SECOND EDITION 




THE 



UDDING 
LADY 



A New Departure in 
Social Work 





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FOOD 

REFORM 

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178 ST. STEPHEN'S HOUSE, 
WESTMINSTER 



1916 



PRICE ONE SHILLING NET 



THE PUDDING LADY 



The 

Pudding 
Lady 



A NEW DEPARTURE 
IN SOCIAL WORK 

By 

MISS BIBBY 
MISS COLLES 
MISS PETTY 

and the late 
DR. SYKES 

With a Letter from 

MRS. HUMPHRY WARD 



New Edition 

With Introductory Note 

1916 



NATIONAL FOOD REFORM ASSOCIATION 
178 ST. STEPHEN'S HOUSE, WESTMINSTER 



TKCCi 



,GU1 
Publisher 






TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Page 

1. Note to Second Edition ... ... ... ... ix 

2. Letter from Mrs. Humphry Ward ... ... xv 

3. Introduction. By M. E. Bibby, Sanitary Inspector 1 

4. The Scenery and the Dramatis Persons. By 

M. E. Bibby, Sanitary Inspector ... ... 7 

5. Food and Cookery. By the late Dr. Sykes, Medical 

Officer of Health, St. Pancras, and three of the 
Food Inspectors 

6. How "The Pudding Lady" Came to Be. ByE. G 

Colles, Nurse Inspector, Board of Education, 
late Lady Superintendent of the St. Pancras 
School for Mothers ... ... ... ... 19 

26 



7. Brief Summary of the Case Papers 

8. 21 Case Papers. By F. Petty 

9. Miss Petty's Recipes 

10. One Family, One Cupboard 

11. A Pupil's Budget : In Her Own Language 

12. Letter to Miss Petty from Lady Meyer 

13. National Food Reform Association : Membership xvii 

14. Food and Efficiency ... ... ... ... xviii 



34 
75 
84 
85 
93 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Page 

i. Miss Florence Petty, "The Pudding Lady" Frontispiece 
2. A Member of '* The Welcome " ... ... ... 24 



NOTE TO SECOND EDITION. 

Within a year or so of the birth of the National Food 
Reform Association the writer was approached by 
Lady Meyer and Miss Evelyn Bunting as to the 
possibility of its undertaking the publication of " The 
Pudding Lady." After reading the MSS. with the 
deepest interest and sympathy, he replied that there 
appeared two good reasons against the course pro- 
posed. In the first place no funds were available, in 
the second he felt very strongly that the St. Pancras 
School for Mothers should itself enjoy the credit and 
reap the benefit of the publication of the record of so 
valuable a piece of pioneer social work. 

Five years have passed, during which period the 
volume has attained to the dignity of a standard work 
for social reformers. To them the term " Pudding 
Lady " stands for more than an individual. It re- 
presents an attitude of mind and a definite method of 
handling a difficult social problem. The heroine of 
the book, Miss Florence Petty, has meanwhile become 
a public possession, bringing to bear on the solution 
of national problems those rare gifts of heart and head 
and that unique experience which achieved such 
wonders alike in the homes of Somers Town (St. 
Pancras) and among the cottagers of Newport, Essex, 
where, at the Village Health Centre founded by Lady 
Meyer, she laboured with equal success for four years. 

Her present work for the National Food Reform 
Association, on the staff of which she has been since 



x Note to Second Edition. 

October, 1914, and that of her colleagues, if slightly 
different in character, has the same end in view. Our 
lecturers do not, as a rule, go into the homes nor give 
actual cookery lessons, though calls for help of this 
kind meet with a ready response. They do, however, 
give equally practical instruction in cookery adapted 
to existing abnormal conditions and confine themselves 
to the simplest utensils and cheapest foods. They are 
thus able to give direct help to women of the wage- 
earning class, wives of tradesmen, farmers, etc., as 
well as to render more efficient a large number of the 
vast army of social workers. 

Under these circumstances, the Committee of the 
St. Pancras School for Mothers, whose Honorary 
Secretary, Mrs. Alys Russell, is also a member of the 
Committee of the National Food Reform Association, 
have kindly sanctioned the reprinting of the book by 
the latter Society. 

Fresh evidence is constantly accumulating of the 
extraordinarily widespread influence exerted by this 
book. Thus only recently a social worker at Newport, 
Mon., wrote: " Perhaps it might interest Miss Petty 
to know that through reading ' The Pudding Lady ' 
some years ago, and seeing the value of the work, I 
induced the Newport Infantile Health Authority to 
allow a salary for a Pudding Lady here, and I became 
the Honorary Secretary of ' The Pudding Lady ' Sub- 
Committee. We found an admirable teacher for the 
work, and it has been very successful." 

Its food prices are, of course, out of date, but this 
does not militate against the continued usefulness of 
what is so much a " live " book that some 500 copies 



Note to Second Edition. xi 

were sold last year through the agency of the Associa- 
tion alone. It is important to remember that it describes 
things as they are, not as they might be. A knowledge 
of existing conditions and a recognition of obstacles in 
the way of improvement are essential preliminaries to 
reform, and this book has probably done more than 
any other to bring home to social reformers the need 
for food, cookery and housing reform. 

The following letters, received respectively in the 
summer and autumn of 191 5, show that the seed sown 
by " The Pudding Lady " and by those who have fol- 
lowed in her steps has not fallen upon barren soil, and 
that there are women to-day who, like the " pupil " and 
others described in the book, under difficulties which 
many would regard as insurmountable, are displaying 
a courage, a resourcefulness, and an open-mindedness 
in their housekeeping which claims our admiration not 
less than our sympathy : 

11 I read in Answers a few weeks ago about your 
work at the Welcome, Somers Town, on cooking. I 
live in Somers Town, as you see by my address, this 
last fourteen years, but never went to the Welcome, 
because I didn't like to come, but should have liked 
to especially to learn cooking, which I like very much, 
but don't know very much about, although I do my 
best for my four children, which are always hungry, 
especially the boys. So could you send me a paper or 
book on how I could make a few tasty and staying 
dinners or dishes at a reasonable cost, instead of the 
usual meat or other dinners that I give them and then 
at tea time they are as hungry as lions. I have bought 
a cookery book, but the time you get all the different 



xii Note to Second Edition. 

things they say you are no better off than if you bought 
a dear dinner, and lots more work, with the chance of 
spoiling the lot. So if I am not asking you too much, 
would you favour me by a little of your ways of 
cooking? " Needless to say, Miss Petty took the first 
opportunity of visiting this correspondent, whose photo- 
graph is reproduced here, and speaks with enthusiasm 
of her courage and capabilities. 

The writer of the second letter, also a student of 
Answers, says : " I am writing to ask your promised 
help, for now that food is so much dearer I am almost 
at my wits' end sometimes in trying to give my family 
the old amount of nourishment on the same amount of 
money. Can you give me a list of the most nourishing- 
foods and the right quantities to feed a family of five- 
father, mother, boy fourteen, girl twelve, boy nine — cost 
not to exceed 15s. weekly? We live absolutely alone in 
the country, so that we have to pay the maximum price 
for firing, as well as everything else, and as we have only 
been in a new house for a few months we have to buy 
all vegetables except greens. It is impossible to obtain 
skim milk here. It is all given to the young animals 
on the farms. The children all have to take dinner to 
school. I get 2d. bones weekly and boil well for stock 
for gravy and soup, and then each day I add to it any 
water in which I have cooked vegetables. I also use 
lentils, rice, and haricot beans. Potatoes I either boil 
or bake without peeling. Any old crusts of bread I use 
up either in the soup or by frying. I can honestly 
claim that I waste absolutely nothing, yet with all my 
care and contriving, week after week I have to use 
money for food that ought to be put away for clothes 



Note to Second Edition. xiii 

and firing. If you can help me I shall be very grateful 
indeed, and will try to help other worried mothers in 
the same way. 

11 Could you also give a list of how to feed a family, 
consisting of father, mother, and five children, ages 
from three to twelve years, on 13s. a week. I know 
many who have to do that, and they get little but bread 
and margarine and vegetables. Have you cookery 
books explaining how to cook the things you advise? 
I have four, and some hundreds of recipes, but few of 
them within my means. Most men are not willing to 
do entirely without meat. My present plan is to bake 
or stew a joint (cost, 2S. 9d.) Saturday, have it cold till 
Wednesday, when I mince it and heat it up with rice 
and onion cooked in stock from bones and vegetables. 
That seems to me cheapest. Can you advise better? 
I only have the one joint a week. My bread bill is 
usually 5s. 6d. a week." 

11 The wonder is," as Miss Bibby remarked in the 
original introduction, " not that many fail, but that 
some succeed in wholesome and adequate care for their 
families. It is not wonderful that many give up the 
struggle and content themselves with the endless tea 
and bread, which demands little preparation and no 
previous thought, and the only alternatives to which 
are occasional expensive cooked dishes from the 
shops." 

Such letters, like the book itself, will also, it may be 
hoped, help to direct public attention to the importance 
of the part played by the mother in the home. Her work 
may not be paid, but it is second in importance to none. 
In some districts the effect of recent legislation, such 



xiv Note to Second Edition. 

as the Miners' Eight Hours Act, has been to increase 
rather than to diminish her task. One of the most 
pressing problems before us is that of bringing to her 
some measure of relief. For this we must look, in 
part, to housing legislation and .administration, such as 
will ensure adequate cooking, storage and washing 
facilities, and labour-saving devices, to co-operative 
housekeeping, to an extension of the range of dishes 
supplied in cookshops and cheap restaurants, and to 
the provision of outside assistance somewhat on the 
lines of the " Home Helps." 

Is it too much, further, to hope that the next genera- 
tion will be adequately instructed in cookery and food 
values (including the use of neglected foodstuffs of all 
kinds), in personal hygiene, and in home making, not 
merely in the schools — primary and secondary alike 
— but in compulsory continuation classes held during 
the day. And will not the success of such training de- 
pend in great measure upon some portion of it at any 
rate being made obligatory for boys as well as for girls ? 

Chas. E. Hecht. 

178, St. Stephen's House, Westminster. 
February 3rd, 1916. 



LETTER FROM MRS HUMPHRY WARD. 

(Prefixed to the original edition.) 
Stocks, Tring, 

August 3, 1910. 
Dear Lady Meyer, 

I am very much obliged to you for letting me see 
these most interesting proofs. Never was any work 
more practical, more womanly, and more necessary 
than that of " The Pudding Lady." This account of 
her experiment has been particularly attractive to me, 
for the question, " On how little could one live well, 
if one set about it with enough intelligence?" has 
always seemed to me a fascinating one, and, with re- 
gard to food, I have often pondered it, especially in the 
early days of the Cripple Schools, when I first dis- 
covered what an excellent dinner one could give a 
cripple child — a dinner of meat, vegetables, pudding, 
and bread — for 2d., and even for ijd. It is not food 
that is dear and scarce in England — it is the mind to 
cook it with ! Food is extraordinarily' cheap and good 
in England — the raw material of food, that is to say. 
Even the labourer on 18s. or 21s. a week could live 
plentifully, so far as food is concerned, if he or his 
wife knew all there is to be known by ordinarily in- 
telligent people about food and its preparation. But, 
unfortunately, his wife, as a rule, knows hardly any- 
thing of what can be done on a few pence to please 
and nourish her family. She has none of the instinc- 
tive knowledge of and aptitude for what makes a 
savoury dish that the French or German woman has. 
She buys monotonously, omitting dozens of foods that 
she ought to include, because she is quite ignorant 
about them, and often prejudiced against them; and 
she comes more and more to depend on tinned 



xvi Letter from Mrs. Humphry Ward. 

abominations of all sorts, and to get all the cooking 
she wants done for her at the cookshop. And mean- 
while her own mind stagnates for lack of any real 
interest or variety in her housekeeping; her husband 
gets no pleasure out of his meals, and, as man is a 
feeding animal, begins to take less interest in his home, 
and her children are wretchedly nourished. 

How far, too often, is this true of the English home 
and the English mother! But your "School for 
Mothers " and your most inventive " Pudding Lady M 
have been practically doing what many of us have 
dreamed of doing — going into the actual homes of the 
poor and showing a young mother what astonishing 
things can be done with her own saucepan, on her own 
fire, with her own hands. These savoury stews of 
lentils and tomatoes and meat "pieces," these suet 
puddings, now made with meat, now with treacle or 
raisins or dates, so nourishing, cheap, and good to 
the palate, have by now perhaps revolutionised some 
workmen's homes; they have brought new ambitions 
to women, new pleasures to hungry folk; above all, 
new nourishment to nursing mothers and to their 
sickly and anaemic children. 

For that, after all, is the object of the " School for 
Mothers " — to help women " labouring with child " 
and " young children,' ' and to show the helpless and 
ignorant that by a little teaching, a little kindness, a 
little sympathy, a little docility, this hard world can 
be made to yield its simple comforts and pleasures 
even to the very poor, far more readily than the high- 
minded or the selfish know. 

Yours very truly, 

Mary A. Ward. 




MISS FLORENCE PETTY 

("THE PUDDING LADY") 



The Pudding Lady 



INTRODUCTION. 

This is the story of an experiment in social work. 
Because it is not claimed that this work has yet gone 
beyond the stage of experiment it has seemed better 
to present the actual first-hand report material obtained 
than to write a book based upon that material. On the 
other hand, the experiment has so far been so signally 
successful, and the work done appears to be so well 
worth the doing, as to justify the issuing of such 
reports as are already in our hands. 

This new work is the teaching of domestic subjects, 
more particularly cookery, in the homes of the people 
by means of actual work, in which only the utensils and 
resources of the home are used. The hash, when 
cooked, forms part of the ordinary meal. The gar- 
ment, when made, is at once worn. The lessons are 
worked into the ordinary normal setting of the life of 
the persons taught, and so gain a reality and a sense 
of use and of purpose not to be obtained in any other 
way. 

The School for Mothers has always recognised that 
the welfare of the baby is part of the welfare of that 
baby's family, and consequently teaching in cookery 
and other domestic arts has always formed part of its 
curriculum. The cookery lessons have been ably given, 
the syllabus has been carefully prepared, and the atten- 
dances and interest of the women have been satisfac- 
tory. It was, therefore, somewhat surprising, and not 
a little disconcerting, to find that few, if any, of the 



2 The Pudding Lady. 

women were putting into actual practice the lessons 
received. The lessons were regarded as merely a form 
of recreation. 

Another difficulty also engaged the attention of the 
Committee. It was found that many babies who, 
under the care and guidance of the Welcome,* attained 
a whole year's life in health and vigour grew delicate 
and puny as the second year progressed. Something, 
obviously, was at fault in feeding or management, or 
both. Classes in children's cookery were discussed, 
but the experience of ordinary cookery classes as given 
above w r as not encouraging. 

So the Welcome decided to start on a new adventure, 
and to take its teaching into the homes of its students. 

The usual difficulty as to money arose, but this was 
met by the generosity of Mr. Edmund Barnes, D.L., 
J. P., who promptly offered to finance the first stage 
of the experiment, and to whom much gratitude is felt 
for his valuable support of an untried idea. When fur- 
ther support was necessary, Lady Meyer, whose 
interest in scientific domestic instruction is so well 
known, gave the funds necessary for the continuance 
for a further period of the work. This was followed 
by a donation from Lady Sargood. 

The Committee was further fortunate in obtaining 
the services, as Teacher and Investigator, of Miss F. 
Petty, who had already given much time and thought 
to the work of the Welcome, and who, in addition to 
an unusually wide knowledge of practical and scientific 

*The St. Pancras School for Mothers is known locally as 
" The Mothers' and Babies' Welcome," or, shortly, " The 
Welcome." 



The Pudding Lady. 3 

domesticity, had that interest in general social pro- 
blems and that experience of investigation essential for 
the work. 

As it seemed possible that the experiment might 
initiate work of considerable magnitude and import- 
ance, it was decided that a careful daily record of the 
work done should be kept, and that, without prying 
in any impertinent fashion into the lives of our poorer 
friends, and without formal questioning, which might 
justly arouse resentment, as much information as pos- 
sible should be collected concerning the present circum- 
stances and past history of the families visited. This 
information was to include, where possible, some refer- 
ence to those mental and moral factors difficult to 
estimate and often left out of account, yet which are 
in many, if not in all, lives the finally determining 
facts. 

These records seemed desirable for -several reasons. 
If the experiment succeeded it would be necessary to 
know among what kind of people and in the face of 
what difficulties of poverty and general circumstances 
success had been attained. If the experiment failed it 
would be still more valuable to know the reason, in 
order that some new attempt might be made in the 
light of the knowledge gained. The Welcome did 
not intend to leave its problem unsolved, and so the 
knowledge of every circumstance affecting the lives of 
its people became a possible source of suggestions for 
further work. 

The records thus obtained form the subject of the 
present book. Written while each impression was 



4 The Pudding Lady. 

fresh in the mind of the writer, they give a vivid and 
accurate picture of the work and of the people. 

The method and spirit of the work can best be 
understood by reading- the account relating to each 
family. The work has been done throughout entirely 
in the spirit of the friend and helper, never in that 
of the patron or critic. Miss Petty has made friends 
with her pupils, either in the course of an ordinary 
class at the School for Mothers or when visiting a 
home for some other reason. The lessons have fol- 
lowed some informal offer by the teacher to u come 
and show you how to do it," or the expression of a 
wish " to know how to do it " on the part of the 
pupil. There has been no cut-and-dried procedure, no 
formal syllabus, no> prescribed course of action. Every- 
thing has been adapted to the needs of the pupils and 
the resources of their homes. How great the needs 
are and how limited the resources can only be under- 
stood by actual contact with the homes and the people 
of our slums. 

To provide for a family on the narrow incomes 
quoted, and to cook for a family in the limited space 
and with the few utensils available, demands skill, 
knowledge, and resourcefulness of a high order, 
coupled with much self-denial and foresight. The 
wonder is, not that many fail, but that some succeed 
in wholesome and adequate care for their families. It 
is not wonderful that many give up the struggle and 
content themselves with the endless tea and bread, 
which demands little preparation and no previous 
thought, and the only alternatives to which are occa- 
sional expensive cooked dishes from the shops. But 



The Pudding Lady. 5 

when these dull matters are made interesting by plea- 
sant talk, when the " friend of the family " thinks 
them worth much attention, and, best of all, when 
" the lady comes in and takes off her coat and puts 
on an apron, just as if she belonged to you," as one 
pupil vividly explained, then the suet pudding- is no 
longer a suet pudding, but a symbol. 

It is of interest to note how methods and habits 
often adversely criticised appear when seen more 
closely. For example, buying in small quantities is 
found to be not a foolish improvidence, but rather a 
wise allowing to each day its due proportion of food 
where storage is scanty and food in any case insuffi- 
cient. Again, shopping at night becomes necessary 
when food is at its cheapest at the end of the day, 
and the habit of sending the children to do the shop- 
ping has its rise in the fact that the kindly shopkeeper 
gives the biggest helping to the smallest customer. 

The results of the work done have been most grati- 
fying. It is not simply that certain lessons have been 
given and certain dishes made, but also that, by means 
of the lessons, dormant intelligence has been awakened 
and atrophied powers called into use ; that a new in- 
terest has been given to the everyday affairs of life 
and a new importance to household duties. 

These are essential steps to any real improvement 
in the condition of the poor. 

Although the number of families dealt with is not 
large, it will be found to embrace typical specimens 
of the various classes; from the able and intelligent, 
brought to poverty by sickness, misfortune, or varia- 
tions in employment, to the well-intentioned but in- 



6 The Pudding Lady. 

efficient in body or mind, or both, and to the lazy and 
unemployable. Work of this intimate and personal 
nature gives unequalled opportunities for social in- 
vestigation. Neither shyness nor intentional decep- 
tion can be maintained, and it is possible to gauge the 
unintentional inaccuracy which is so often mistaken 
for something worse. 

Those who have seen most of the work would be the 
last to maintain that it can be done everywhere and by 
every kind of person. Some centre, or some previous 
work which may serve as a means of first getting into 
touch with the women, is desirable. The teacher is, 
however, the essential factor in the scheme. Every- 
thing depends upon her personality. Faith and in- 
sight, long patience and deep sympathy, personal mag- 
netism and attractiveness, must be joined with practi- 
cal knowledge and a wide resourcefulness if the aims 
are fully to be attained. In this fact lies one of the 
claims of the work to help and recognition. Modern 
schemes of social betterment are apt to dwxll too ex- 
clusively on the mass aspect of social affairs, and on 
the machinery and apparatus of improvement. It is 
no bad thing to be reminded that finally it is per- 
sonality which acts most strongly on ability, and that 
the crowds and masses are ultimately resolvable into 
individuals needing help and pity and guidance. 

M. E. Bibby. 



THE SCENERY AND THE DRAMATIS 
PERSONS. 

Our story is incomplete unless it includes some con- 
sideration of the place where, and the people among 
whom, our experiment was made. The worker must 
know her material, its strength and resistance, its weak- 
ness and defect, its plasticity and fluidity, if her work 
is to be reasoned and effective. The recognition of this 
fact is nowhere more important than in the region of 
human effort and of social amelioration. Many well- 
meant efforts fail for want of this study of the human 
material and of the intricacies of psychological chemis- 
try. 

The district in which our experiment has been made 
has the usual features of any district surrounding huge 
railway termini. Houses, formerly designed for the 
occupation of one family, but now let out in dwellings 
of one, two, or three rooms, are the habitations, varied 
by a few blocks of workmen's flats. Poverty is the note 
of the neighbourhood — plucky, self-respecting poverty ; 
helpless, inefficient poverty ; loafing, idle poverty. The 
art of doing without is well understood by all, and 
11 making the best of it " is the philosophy of most. 
Yet it is not a soured or depressed population, nor has 
it any evident feeling of envy or resentment in the con- 
templation of more fortunate humans. It has still in- 
dependence to repel undesired interference, but it has 
a quick recognition for friendly feeling. 



8 The Pudding Lady. 

Out of school hours its streets are full of little 
people, miraculously escaping imminent death from 
passing traffic, playing strange games of absorbing 
fascination, or pursuing the otherwise superfluous adult 
in quest of bits of string and pins, the uses of which 
are dark mysteries. The market street is full of ac- 
tivity. Wares of every kind, eatable, wearable, 
usable, are displayed. Crowds of purchasers and 
lookers-on wander along. Persevering sellers extol 
their goods and astute buyers depreciate those most 
desired. Many religious and social organisations are 
at work, and although in the face of economic diffi- 
culties they may not make so great an improvement 
in the general conditions of the district as is desired, 
there is no doubt that their work is much appreciated 
and has effects of great value. 

It is important to note this general setting of the 
work. In such a district wholesome living is not easy. 
The made-down house does not lend itself readily to 
good housekeeping. The undue crowding of human 
beings is productive of more than physical evils. Evil 
examples are thrust under the eyes of the weaker 
and are difficult to escape. There is no privacy, no 
space for thought. The mind is dulled by the per- 
petual whirring of the social machine. There is none 
of the solitude and silence wherein souls grow greater. 
The want of outlook, the sameness of the daily 
round, the limitations of every kind, join with the want 
of air, of food, and of healthy conditions to produce 
an apathy of mind which is, perhaps, a merciful ano- 
dyne of Nature's making, but which tends to per- 
petuate the conditions among which it has grown. 



The Pudding Lady. 9 

Again, in some of the less successful families we find 
a want of grip on life which is probably physical in 
origin. Where tuberculosis, insanity, and drink 
appear in the family history, though not in the indi- 
viduals immediately dealt with, the weakness which 
may have contributed to the social failure seems 
possibly connected with these facts. There is fre- 
quently found a degree of mental inefficiency, not 
marked enough to be counted as mental deficiency, 
which seems to be constitutional, and not due simply 
to lack of education or efficient training. 

It is, however, worthy of remark that such educa- 
tion as most of our less fortunate parents have received 
does not appear to have been of much use to them in 
the practical affairs of life. A closer study of the lives 
and homes of our people and a more complete adapta- 
tion of educational proceedings to their present circum- 
stances and probable future lives would give good 
results. The need by no means mean the denial of 
opportunity to the poorest children. It would rather 
give them a more certain start on the path to success. 
The simplification of such domestic training as is given 
in the schools, the teaching of domestic arts and know- 
ledge in their simplest forms to boys as well as to 
girls, the utilisation of holiday homes and vacation 
schools for the teaching of home-making, suggest 
themselves as useful possibilities. But most of all 
seem desirable, perhaps in and through such teaching, 
or in and through Nature study and the ordinary work 
of the school, that brightening of the intelligence and 
that sharpening of the moral sense which may lead our 
people to see the value of good home-making and the 



io The Pudding Lady. 

desire of attaining it. It is, indeed, home-making 
which should be aimed at rather than a specialised 
proficiency in any of the arts of domesticity, such as 
may well be the object when the training of servants — ■ 
quite a separate subject — is in view. 

Probably this instruction, no matter how efficient 
may be the school system, will always require to be 
supplemented by such work as that done by Miss Petty, 
but some useful foundation for the later building might 
be laid during school life. 

Samples of many other social and economic problems 
will be found in the case papers. Unemployment, as 
always, is much in evidence. Perhaps, with their 
larger opportunities for collecting information, the 
Labour Exchanges may in time help towards preven- 
tive work in this direction by diverting workers from 
the dying trades and by affording opportunities for 
training in newly developing forms of employment. 

It is interesting to note the varying effect of acute 
poverty according to the intelligence and resourceful- 
ness of the individual. As the savage, hard pressed by 
hunger, learns the hunter's arts and tracks his quarry 
with unerring skill, so necessity teaches the intelligent 
and resourceful London slum-dweller where are to be 
found the Saturday night bargains in food and the 
clothing treasures of the second-hand shops and stalls. 
Perhaps one might go further, and compare the arts of 
the skilful cadger with the cunning of the fox and the 
dappled skin of the giraffe — devices of self-preservation 
all. Or, in the case of the baby, the comparison might 
be carried still further, the mother's devotion to the 
newcomer being equal to that of the parent bird to her 



The Pudding Lady. ii 

nestling, while she regards with entire indifference the 
doings of the brood that left the nest two years ago. 

Little margin for provision for the future is afforded 
by the earnings of many of our people. More might be 
done in the direction of provident clubs, especially for 
coal and clothing, as well as for sickness. Insurance is 
fairly general, but whether this is to be classed entirely 
as thrift is doubtful ; the attractions of participation in 
a gorgeous funeral may weigh as much as the desire 
to provide for the future. 

As might be expected, some part of our people's dif- 
ficulties are less easily remedied through the frequent 
predominance of emotion over reason. The lack of 
self-discipline is by no means a special defect of the 
poor, but for them it has the most serious consequences. 
Children are spoilt and indulged to an extent unknown 
in more prosperous homes, and at the same time are 
punished with undue severity as an outlet for shock or 
irritation. 

" I don't like it " seems to be a sufficient reason for 
any refusal, no matter how foolish or impolitic, of food 
or work or opportunities. There is a marvellous 
strength of endurance, a very beautiful charity, a 
courage for the sudden demand ; but there is lacking 
the active kind of fortitude and the surrender of 
immediate gratification for the sake of remoter good. 

These remarks should not be taken as generalisations 
about " the poor," but only as reflections to which a 
study of typically unsuccessful families may give rise. 

" The poor," "the masses," and all such general 
terms are full of misleading possibilities, unless we 
remember that included in these wide terms are sub- 



12 The Pudding Lady. 

classes differing widely in intelligence, resourcefulness, 
and in every characteristic which marks out one human 
being from another. 

To realise the unity of our common human nature, 
and at the same time the infinite diversity produced by 
character, heredity, environment, education, and the 
like, is no simple thing; yet that realisation is an 
imperative duty if, in any adequate manner, we are to 
bring help to those in greatest need. 

M. E. Bibby. 



FOOD AND COOKERY. 

The concentration and accumulation of populations at 
industrial centres lead to greater and greater sub- 
division of labour, not only of man's, but also of 
woman's, and finally reach intimate domestic life. The 
subdivision of labour, if carried to the ultimate ex- 
tremity, will terminate in the subdivision of the family 
and the consequent destruction of family life and home, 
which are the basis and incentive of labour itself. This 
is the tendency of extreme urbanisation. The manage- 
ment of the home and the tending of the family, 
essentially woman's work, if not maintained, must end 
in moral disaster, but labour-saving methods and appli- 
ances, provided they do not destroy family life and 
the home, are worthy of serious consideration. 

Amongst labour-saving methods in domestic life 
nothing is more striking in urban centres during the 
present generation than the diminution of cookery at 
home, not only amongst the richer, but also amongst 
the poorer classes. In poor areas the number of places 
where cooked foods may be obtained has increased 
with the diminution of cookery carried on at home. 
Amongst the working classes this has been due to two 
causes — firstly, the increase of woman's labour away 
from home, and secondly, the packing of many families 
in houses constructed originally only for one, so that 
the separate dwellings have not the fittings necessary 
for a complete dw-elling. Amongst these fittings are 
those for cookery purposes, that is, water and sink for 



14 The Pudding Lady. 

washing food and utensils, safe for storing food, and 
stove or range for cooking food. To these must be 
added poverty and ignorance of utensils, and the want 
of knowledge of marketing, preparation, and cooking 
of foods in their plainest and simplest aspects. 

The three Food Inspectors who have kindly furnished 
notes on this subject have regarded the question of 
cooking from three different aspects, and their opinions 
are very vivid, as will be seen in their statements which 
follow. 

i. Mr. Osborne regards the subject from a health 
point of view. 2. Mr. Child regards it from an 
economic standpoint. 3. Mr. Auger summarises it as 
want of training, utensils and fittings. Each state- 
ment is exceedingly brief, but admirably true. 

John F. J. Sykes, 

1 2th May, 1910. Medical Officer of Health. 

(1). Food and Feeding Amongst the Poorer Classes. 

The poorest class of people obtain the greater part 
of their food ready cooked, which is a blessing, as it 
saves a large amount of suffering, for quite 90 per 
cent, know as much about cooking as they do about 
astronomy. 

The food they buy is wholesome and well cooked, 
and consists of fried fish and potatoes, canned goods, 
brawns made from coarse parts and trimmings of good 
sound meat of all kinds ; jellied eels, trotters, tripe, 
and treacle, jams, pickles of the cheaper kinds, all of 
which can be bought in farthing, halfpenny, and 
pennyworths ready to eat, and are good wholesome 
food, well cooked. 



The Pudding Lady. 15 

The above is not the worst class to deal with so far 
as cooking is concerned, and its effects on the general 
health of the people in large centres of population. It 
is the women who think they can cook when they get 
married who are the most difficult to deal with, for it 
is below their dignity to learn before that much-desired 
result is achieved. To this class belong such girls as 
clerks, typists, teachers and shop girls. What leisure 
time they have is spent in cycling, rinking, tennis, and 
other kindred outdoor amusements. When such a 
girl has hooked her fish in the shape of a man, she 
cannot possibly stop at home and take lessons from her 
poor drudge of a mother. Her boy wants to take her 
for a ride, or wishes to go for a spin, or to a theatre, 
music hall, or dance, or a card party. It is just sweet. 
Thus her time is spent, she being thoroughly convinced 
that the marriage vows carry with them a practical 
knowledge of all authorities on cookery. She does not 
buy the right kinds or quantities of food, does not 
cook them properly, so that there is insufficient nutri- 
tion both in quantity and quality. Hence her children 
are the puny, sickly, and undersized boys and girls 
who in course of time produce another set of degene- 
rates worse than themselves. 

This is the class of woman that is more dangerous 
to physical development than the woman who knows 
she cannot and therefore does not try to cook anything 
more elaborate than the humble bloater on a fork in 
front of the fire. 

J. Osborne, 

Food Inspector (35 years). 

May nth, 1910. 



1 6 The Pudding Lady. 

(2). How the Poor Feed. 

Amongst the very poor it is surprising how little 
food is cooked ait home. This may be partly due to 
lack of energy, which, I think, is the case in a good 
many instances, and to the fact that many women 
have to work for their living, being therefore unable 
to spare the time and energy for cooking, while at 
the same time they can buy cooked foods, hot and cold, 
in almost every district at the following places :- — 

In the Day. 

Pork Butchers. — Hot boiled beef and pork, roast 
pork, pease pudding, carrots, potatoes, boiled currant 
or raisin pudding. 

Fish Shops. — Fried fish iand potatoes. 

Coffee Shops. — Cut from the joints and vegetables, 
puddings, etc., purchased in their own plates or basins. 

Eel Shops. — Eel pies, stewed eels. 

Grocers & Provision Shops. — Cooked foods, cooked 
ham, cooked bacon, German sausage, collared head, 
veal, etc. 

In the Evening. 

Pork Butchers. — Hot boiled beef and pork, saveloys, 
faggots and pease pudding. 

Fish Shops &* Eel Pie Shops. — As above. 

The difference in the prices of cooked and uncooked 
foods prove that cooked foods are not bought on the 
grounds of economy. For instance, boiled brisket of 
beef costs iod., is., is. 46. per lib., whereas salted 
uncooked brisket can be purchased at 4d. per lb., good 
wholesome meat. I must not, however, omit to men- 



The Pudding Lady. 17 

tion that the cooked meat has been " boned," whereas 
the uncooked meat includes the bone. Still, there is a 
great difference in the price, and other goods differ in 
price in like proportion. 

It seems perfectly clear that the poor oannot get 
sufficient food, or at any rate the same quantity of 
nutritious food, as they would if they purchased fresh 
meat and cooked it themselves. This, then, should 
be a lesson, especially to the woman who> lacks energy 
and says " It is too much trouble to cook." 
Harry R. Child, 
Inspector of Food and Food Places. 

May 10th, 1910. 

(3). The Cooking of the Poorer Classes. 

In the following remarks are summarised my ex- 
perience of the food of the poorer classes of the com- 
munity, and of their means of cooking and storing the 
same. 

The poor consume large quantities of fish, both dried 
and fresh, the majority of which is purchased fried. 
The fried fish shops are open daily from 12 to 2 p.m., 
and again from 7 p.m. to midnight, the largest quan- 
tity of fish being consumed for supper, the children 
purchasing odd half -penny worths during the evening, 
and eating it in the street, the parents consuming it 
in their own homes. 

Brawn, tinned meat and German sausage are largely 
purchased for the mid-day meal, as it does not re- 
quire cooking or otherwise preparing, which is a fact 
to be considered when one remembers the scanty appli- 
ances and utensils at the disposal of poor people. 

C 



1 8 The Pudding Lady. 

Quite a number of rooms in tenement dwellings are 
not provided with an oven attached to the stove, the 
only means of cooking - being a hob grate just large 
enough to hold one fair-sized saucepan, and too often 
causing the room to be filled with smoke. I have never 
seen a dutch oven in such dwellings. When any at- 
tempt is made to cook a mid-day meal (except on Sun- 
day) it invariably is composed of stewed or boiled food > 
roast or baked food being in most cases out of the 
question, since there are no appliances for preparing it. 

During my visits as an Inspector to the homes of 
these people I have very rarely seen any serious at- 
tempt made by the mother of the family to prepare 
a mid-day meal. 

The cooking utensils usually consist of a frying pan 
and a kettle, which are the most important, and of a 
saucepan. Any food that is left over is kept in a cup- 
board without any external ventilation, the lower part 
being usually occupied by coals. If there is no cup- 
board an improvised one is made out of an orange 
box, and if the tenant happens to occupy the top floor 
rooms, this box is kept on the landing. To sum up, 
the reasons why so much ready-cooked food (the most 
extravagant method to victual a family) is consumed 
by the poor are : — 

i. The mother has not acquired any simple practical 
knowledge of the art of cooking. 

2. They are very often too poor to provide cooking 
utensils. 

3. The absence of cooking range or stove or oven, 
and of means for properly storing food. 

May 9th, 1910. (Signed) W. G. Auger. 



HOW "THE PUDDING LADY" 
CAME TO BE. 

The School for Mothers at St. Pancras was founded 
originally with the object of educating mothers in the 
feeding and care of infants under twelve months old, 
and it has now a fairly full organisation directed to that 
end. Women expecting to become mothers are sought 
out and visited, and are often persuaded to come to 
the School before the birth of the baby. There they 
are taught how to prepare proper clothes and the cradle 
for the little one ; they are also given very simple in- 
struction in the care of their own health and that of 
the child when it shall be born, and the great import- 
ance of breast-feeding is insisted upon. In cases where 
the health of the mother and that of the unborn child 
are endangered through starvation, food is provided 
very cheaply, and in some instances, where the doctor 
certifies it to be necessary, it is given free. When the 
child is born the mother may still be fed for nine 
months at the School, if it is found by the doctor that 
she cannot otherwise suckle her baby ; but every mother 
and child who is fed in this way, whether the mother 
pays for her food or not, is kept under strict medical 
supervision, each baby being weighed and medically 
examined every fortnight, and advice being given as 
to feeding, clothing, home treatment of simple ail- 
ments, the health of the nursing mother, and finally the 
weaning of the child. The mothers of bottle-fed chil- 
dren, of whom there must always be a certain pro- 



20 The Pudding Lady. 

portion, need even more advice and supervision, because 
having once broken away from the safe rule of " noth- 
ing- but the breast," they are inclined to experiment 
recklessly with every new food they come across. 

The School has now existed for three years, and 
those who have worked in it feel certain that, in spite 
of many disappointments, the result of those three 
years is encouraging. A large number of women have 
grasped the main principles of Infant Rearing; they 
are proud to hand them on to others, and they have 
learnt to observe their babies intelligently, to give a 
sensible account of them to the doctor or nurse, and to 
carry out the directions given. I doubt if this result 
could have been attained in any way except by the 
const ant personal supervision of each child, for we 
find these working mothers to be very objective in their 
understandings. It is not enough to talk to them, 
however simply, on the impropriety of starch-feeding ; 
what one has to do is to say " Do you know why 
Tommy So-and-So's stomach is so round and heavy 
and his back such a bad shape? Because his mother 
gave him bread sop from the time he was a month old. 
Now don't give baby anything but milk till I tell 
you ! " Also these people's lives are a long, uncomfort- 
able struggle to live, with no leisure, little health, and, 
above all, no space in their homes, and without the 
constant incentive of the visitor or the " Doctor's day " 
it would be impossible for them to evolve enough 
energy to go on watching the child efficiently. 

To help and advise the mother after the baby's twelfth 
month is a harder matter, because the whole question 
becomes much more complicated. Only a year ago a 



The Pudding Lady. 21 

baby, seven months old, breast-fed and perfectly 
healthy, was weighed at the School, and the mother was 
then lost sight of, as she had moved farther from the 
neighbourhood. A month ago she was again discovered, 
this time with two babies. The elder, now nineteen 
months old, was wasted and rickefcty, unable even to 
crawl, and screaming with pain if suddenly moved. The 
mother admitted that the child had been fed chiefly on 
bread and potatoes from the time it was weaned, and 
this is the history of hundreds of babies in the poorer 
districts of London. Breast-feeding will not prevent 
rickets if the poor baby is fed on indigestible, starchy 
food from the moment the mother's milk ceases; and 
even breast-feeding is, in a sense, a bad education to 
the mother, and in a much greater degree to the father, 
for ithe care of the child in the second and third years 
of its life. The breast-fed baby is the cheapest person 
in the family. The year-old baby should be, in a 
working-class family, proportionately the most expen- 
sive. He needs a quantity of good milk; he needs 
eggs, gravy, and a gradual change and variety in his 
diet, together with careful and digestible cooking, such 
as most working-class households are perfectly innocent 
of. In this particular department of the care of children 
almost everything has still to be done in the way of 
reform and instruction. The St. Pancras School for 
Mothers has, almost from its commencement, provided 
cookery classes for women and girls, but it was only by 
degrees that we realised the immense helplessness with 
which we had to contend. Each lesson at first con- 
sisted of a demonstration in the preparation of the 
cheapest and simplest meals, the mothers watching the 



22 The Pudding Lady. 

cooking, being asked to name the prices at which they 
oould buy the ingredients used, and to reckon up the 
cost of the meal. The cooking was done, sometimes 
upon the open fire, sometimes upon the gas stove. One 
day a visitor from the School happened to be in the 
house of one of these mothers ait the hour when the 
school-children were coming home for dinner. There 
was also a baby-child of three years old in the room. 
No meal had been cooked, but a large open tart from 
the cook-shop, filled with jam, and cold, stood upon the 
table. The children rushed in from school, and seizing 
each a large slice of tart, ate it, walking about the 
room. The mother handed another slice to the baby- 
girl, and the meal was over ! Our faith in the efficacy 
of demonstrations alone had been tottering for some 
time, and this episode hastened its fall. We began 
to question the women. " Do you ever make a 
stew like that for your husband? " one very young 
mother was asked. "Why, no," she replied, with a 
satisfied smile; " I ain't never cooked nuthin' in my 
life! " The suggestion that she should try appeared 
to amuse her immensely. " 'E wouldn't eat nuthin' 
that I was to cook," she explained. 

Further enquiries elicited very discouraging revela- 
tions about the home meals, and we decided that our 
teaching must be made more practical. Long experi- 
ence of the ways of our mothers with their babies had 
taught us that it is not enough to appeal, however 
successfully, to their reason or imagination. Life is too 
hard, their vitality too low, and the atmosphere of 
laissez faire too strong around ithem for the idea ever to 
be converted into action. Our only hope lies in form- 



The Pudding Lady. 23 

ing a habit, by making- them repeat an action over and 
over till it has ceased to be an effort and has become 
familiar. Therefore we decided that the new habit to 
be established should be the making of suet puddings, 
and that these puddings must be made under conditions 
as much as possible like those obtaining in the homes 
in Somers Town. To that end we bought " Beatrice " 
oil stoves, which are very small and cheap. We spread 
clean teaclo'ths on the table instead of pastry boards, 
and in some oases used bottles instead of -rolling pins. 
And when the mothers arrived we persuaded them — 
with a good deal of difficulty, for they are very shy, 
and terrified of innovations — to put on the clean blue 
overalls provided for them, and to begin to cook. Only 
the open fire and the little oil stoves were to be used, 
for very few of them have such a thing as a gas stove 
in their rooms, and one must be very precise in the 
forming of habits. 

For three months they made suet puddings every 
week in that kitchen — plain puddings, raisin puddings, 
ginger puddings, meat puddings, and every other 
variety of which a suet pudding is capable — until their 
pride in their intimate knowledge of suet became over- 
whelming, and they began bringing us specimens of 
puddings which they had made at home, as other people 
bring sketches and poems. Then we went on to stews, 
remembering always the principle we had laid down for 
ourselves, that the conditions were to be, as far as pos- 
sible, those of the home, >and that each lesson was to be 
repeated until it ceased to be an effort of memory and 
became a habit. At the same time we began to teach 
the preparation of simple infant foods, such as cup 



24 The Pudding Lady. 

custard, arrowroot, barley water, whey, and other 
things. 

But even while we were providing these classes for 
our mothers, and being assured of their value as proved 
by the increased intelligence, cleanliness, and capacity 
of the women, we were discovering that there is a cer- 
tain kind of mother whose home conditions are so diffi- 
cult and so overwhelming that even these very simple 
and practical lessons do not get near enough to her 
actual life to give her the self-confidence necessary to 
begin even an innovation in feeding. She is often very 
young, married perhaps a year or two ago to a boy 
as young as herself, who has probably never had any 
regular work since the wedding. Before her marriage 
she has worked in a factory, and having come from a 
crowded and uncomfortable home, has made a point in 
her girlhood of staying out at night, and knowing as 
little as possible about her mother's domestic shifts or 
the management of children. She may own a saucepan, 
or possibly only a frying pan and a kettle ; she under- 
stands nothing about buying raw materials, she is not 
at home in a domestic atmosphere, and each fresh 
child that is born only adds to the helpless confusion in 
which she lives. 

About the time of our first attempt at the practical 
cookery classes we had the good fortune to meet with 
Miss Petty, a lady with a very thorough knowledge of 
all domestic subjects, especially of cookery, and at the 
same time a familiarity with the homes and lives of 
the people among whom we work, such as fitted her in 
a peculiar way for the experiment which she undertook 
at the request of the Committee. We had come to the 




A MEMBER OF "THE WELCOME 



The Pudding Lady. 25 

conclusion that nothing short of individual teaching in 
the homes would really solve the question of the proper 
feeding of the children. It may sound absurd, but 
those who have an intimate knowledge of the Wel- 
come mothers know that it is true that a woman will 
remember how to do a thing when she has the same 
bowl and the same saucepan and spoon and table for 
her use which were used at the lesson, whereas if the 
cooking is done in a different room she will forget it. 
The setting recalls a train of ideas. Acting upon this 
theory, Miss Petty undertook to* give six lessons in 
simple cookery to each mother who cared to have her, 
selecting her own pupils at the cookery classes by 
merely getting into conversation, and then offering to 
drop in and show how to make a lentil stew or, as in 
one case, " a suet pudding without a saucepan," the 
household in question not possessing that article. In 
every case her visit was eagerly welcomed, and her 
teaching remembered and carried out with enthusiasm. 
The selections here made from her diary and case 
papers will show the lines on which her work was 
carried out ; the cheapness of the materials used, so as 
to meet incomes of sometimes no more than 5s. a week ; 
the extreme simplicity of the cooking, where utensils, 
space, and, above all, time have all to be treated 
economically ; and, more important still, the sympathy 
and consideration which are needed to carry the teacher 
safely through such a. difficult task as the instruction 
of a mother in her own special stronghold, the home. 

E. G. Colles. 



BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE CASE 
PAPERS. 

It is difficult to summarise such a varied series of pic- 
tures as we get in these 21 papers. The homes have 
been chosen in order to study the subject of domestic 
life in a variety of classes and circumstances. The con- 
sequence is that no one statement holds good for them 
all. 

It might be pointed out to begin with that Mrs. A. 
was the first and most promising pupil. The whole 
spirit of Miss Petty's work, a description of the lessons 
given and the incidental help in the homes of her 
pupils, is here shown forth. Mrs. A. ought by this time 
to be living on a different plane altogether. The reason 
she is only back again where Miss Petty found her is 
that her husband is still out of work, and she has to 
go asking for twopences to get herself and the children 
a bit of bread. 

Another case in which not much has been effected is 
Mrs. V. The tender and detailed care bestowed upon 
her in the most discouraging circumstances was — we 
can hardly say lost, but apparently without result. Her 
unexplained disappearance will not have improved her 
domestic career. 

But on the whole the result is exceedingly hopeful. 
" The Pudding Lady " was welcomed everywhere, by 
none more warmly than by the children who gave her 
that name. A renewed interest is surely the first thing. 
The woman who was so excited over her first pudding 



The Pudding Lady. 27 

that she kept looking in the pot to see if it was really 
boiling - , and Mrs. A., who sent her first raisin pudding 
round to the Welcome on a plate, in order to receive 
our congratulations on it, are surely triumphant 
demonstrations of what tact and patience and enthu- 
siasm can achieve. And could anyone want a higher 
compliment than Mrs. L.'s husband's remark: "It's 
usually cannon balls, but them's real dumplings." 

Of course, the practice of cookery as a regular every- 
day habit naturally follows on more slowly. It means 
to some women an absolute revolution of character, 
and that takes time. But the surprise on every hand at 
the easiness of cookery and at the tastiness of simple 
dishes is what strikes the reader. The apparent new- 
ness of it all led Miss Petty to go into the question of 
what the people ate before she taught them to make 
stews and puddings. A good many, of course, as will 
be seen, already made stews, but dull,ones. And Mrs. 
E.'s budget, reproduced in her own words, is a marvel 
of management. But all effort to discover a " bad 
budget " has failed. There is no such thing. The 
people who do not cook cannot account for their money 
at all. They only find that after a certain time it is 
gone. Each child may be given a penny to get its own 
dinner or tea, but what that dinner or tea consists of 
nobody knows or inquires. 

The information given in the inspectors' reports on 
food and cookery explains a very great deal. Cook- 
shops are exceedingly convenient institutions, and 
although many of the cooked things are much more 
expensive than the uncooked, there are no doubt ex- 
ceptions, especially as regards fried fish. The fish and 



28 The Pudding Lady. 

potatoes given out in newspaper parcels are not at all 
a bad bargain for the money. 

Another vista has been opened up of a style of living 
literally hour by hour by a young woman's remark that 
as a child she used constantly to be sent out by her 
mother to buy in a " penny cup of tea" from the 
corner shop, described thus : " Fars' o' tea, fars' o' 
sugar, fars' o' milk, fars' o' wood.' 

The difficulties of cookery at home are very vividly 
presented in, for instance, the case of Mrs. Q., where 
the pudding had to be mixed on a chair, or the case of 
Mrs. L., where two babies wanted minding all the 
time. Another woman, who has seven children under 
7 years of age, a husband out of work, herself con- 
sumptive, the baby only 5 weeks old, seemed " rather 
overwhelmed with it all." In one home the washing 
has to hang up in the one living room to dry all day, 
and in several one basin has to serve for personal 
washing, the washing of clothes, the mixing of pud- 
dings, and the washing-up of utensils. In seven homes 
out of the 21 there was only the open fire to do all the 
cooking and heating, in one case for a family of nine, 
in another for seven, in another for eight, so that 
baking is quite out of the question. No doubt these 
families avail themselves for their Sunday dinner — the 
biggest domestic event of the week — of the public 
bakehouses, where a good deal of business is done 
in the roasting of people's joints on a Sunday morning 
between 10 and 1 o'clock. Nine other of our 21 homes 
have an oven at the side of their open fire, whilst four 
only are blessed with a close range, and only one home 
has a gas ring in addition to the ordinary fireplace. 



The Pudding Lady. 29 

One of the distinct points in favour of Miss Petty's 
recipes is that they have all been cooked under these 
disadvantageous circumstances. 

Prices are very low in our district, and with observa- 
tion and diligence many excellent bargains may be 
made. For instance, Mrs. D. goes to Bond Street 
early in the morning and gets quite a good supply of 
meat pieces for 2d. or 3d. Saturday night late is a good 
time, or even the Sunday morning auction, when trades- 
men from better-class districts will come down to the 
market streets to get rid of anything they have left over. 
You can buy beautiful joints of meat at 3d. a pound. 

Miss Petty has compiled a list of prices, from which 
we take the following : — 
Beef. — Steak, 6d. per lb. 

For stewing, 46. per lb. ; in a market street, from 2jd. 

Ribs, 3d. per lb. 

Liver, 4d. per lb. 
Mutton. — Leg, 4d. per lb. 

Chops, 4d. per lb. ; in a market street, from 3^d. 

Kidney, 4d. per lb. 

Sweetbread, id. to 2|d. per lb. 
Pork. — Chops, 6d. to o,d. per lb. 

Brawn, from 4d. per lb. 

Sausages, 6d. per lb. 
Bacon. — From 5>d. per lb. 
Rabbits. — 3d. to 8d. each. 
Fish. — Kippers, from id. per pair. 

Haddocks, from ijd. each. 

Fresh haddocks, from 3d. per lb. 

Fresh cod and hake, from 4d. per lb. ; market street, 
from 3d. 



30 The Pudding Lady. 

Vegetables. — Potatoes, from id. per 3 lbs. ; market 
street, id. per 5 lbs. 

Onions, id. per lb. 

Carrots, Jd. per lb. 

Swedes, ijd. per 5 lbs. 

Tomatoes, 3d. to 4d. per lb. ; market street, ifd. 
per lb. 

Celery, id. per stick; market street, 2 sticks a penny. 

Cabbage, id. per 3 lbs. 

Fresh young greens, Jd. per lb. 
Fruit. — Apples, id. per lb. 

Plums, ijd. per lb. ; market, from id. 

Oranges, from 6 a penny. 
Fats. — Butter, from iod. per lb. 

Margarine, from 4d. per lb. 

Lard, from 4d. per lb. 

Dripping, from 4d. per lb. 
Cheese. — From 5d. per lb. 
Sugar. — From ijd. per lb. 
Jam. — From 3d. per 2 lbs. 
Milk. — Tinned, 2d. to 3d. the \ lb. 

Fresh, ijd. to 2d. per pint. 

Mrs. L. likes to allow 2s. a day, when things are 
really going well, to give her family of nine a good 
breakfast, dinner and tea every day. Is it realised that 
this means feeding each person — as she thinks they 
should be fed — on is. 5jd. per week, or 2jd. per day? 

When times are bad no doubt they have to sink to 
what so many do : bread and dripping all the week. 
Mrs. D. says they don't mind living on tea and bread 
all the week if they can have a good dinner on Sunday. 
Several mothers attending the cookery class at the 



The Pudding Lady. 31 

Welcome endeavour to satisfy themselves with a couple 
of hours' sitting in a good smell. Others seek to find 
something to cook that " blows out the children and 
gives them a feeling of having had a huge meal." 

Of course, everything depends on the mother, and 
an inquiry into educational advantages has elicited a 
variety of things. There seems to be every stage of 
advancement from Mrs. B., who gets her little girl of 7 
to read aloud hymns and simple stories to her, to Mrs. 
D., who reads aloud to her illiterate husband. In 
another family the father and mother read aloud to the 
children. Mrs. L., whose favourite book is " Jane 
Eyre," belies the general reputation of scholars by 
being good at domestic management also. Mrs. A. 's 
husband prefers " Lloyd's " as a weekly for family 
reading, because " it's more edifying." There seems 
to be a variety of experience as to whether domestic 
service before marriage is good training for home life 
or not. On the whole it tends to cleanliness and savoir 
faire. But Mrs. I. says the cooking she did before 
marriage was not simple and cheap enough to be of 
much use to her; Mrs. B. says it was mostly only 
joints and vegetables where she was in service ; Mrs. 
R. had forgotten most of it by now. On the other 
hand, a woman not included in these case papers says 
she " can adapt the dishes she did in service to present 
requirements." 

In speaking of a home one usually conjures up the 
picture of a mother and a crowd of children. The 
father, if there is one, is supposed to be out at work, 
or else drinking at a public-house ; he and his character, 
apart from his aspect as a source of income, is apt to 



32 The Pudding Lady. 

be ignored. Miss Petty's case papers vindicate pretty 
strongly the place of the father in the home — not always 
as the head of the family, but as a very considerable 
personal factor in it. 

From among these 21, only two husbands are bad. 
And of these one is proudly spoken of by his wife. A 
man who, when he has a fit on " will not think twice 
of lifting the bed and throwing it out of the window " is 
at least dramatic, and is paying some attention to the 
home. Seven husbands are distinctly good, four might 
be considered meddling, eight are only just referred to, 
and may therefore be assumed to be quite harmless. 
Of the good husbands, one knits vests for his baby, and 
is glad " The Pudding Lady " calls in his dinner hour, 
because she can show him how to do the shoulders, and 
knit with four needles instead of two. Another is per- 
haps rather too much of a good thing when he is at 
home, as he keeps his wife dusting and cleaning all the 
while, and like an Eastern potentate can hardly let her 
sit down. But then he often takes and does it himself, 
if he thinks she has not done it enough. Mr. M. objects 
to the hire-purchase system. When his wife was once 
tempted to start a sewing machine in that way, he sent 
it off as soon as he came home. Trying, no doubt, at 
the moment, but high-principled and decisive. The 
practice of handing over earnings to the wife varies 
greatly. Some hand over every penny, and get their 
pocket-money allowed them just like children. Others 
keep back so much for clothes, tobacco, tand so on. 
Very rarely the father, life F. , keeps it all, and does all 
the paying. This last is dangerous. During a wife's 
confinement a husband is often exceedingly helpful and 



The Pudding Lady. 33 

domestic. He will cook and clean and manage the chil- 
dren, all, in fact, except handle the new baby. 

Children, also, are not quite such trials as one has 
been led to expect. The baby is always a tyrant. And 
there is one mention of a girl of 12 who refuses to get 
up and dress on a Sunday morning unless she has clean 
clothes to put on. But that her mother is proud of. 
Generally speaking, they do not appear to present much 
difficulty. 

On the whole the family life depicted in the case 
papers is obviously worth every effort to preserve and 
promote. The School nurses, Care Committee ladies, 
and our " Pudding Lady " want the support and sym- 
pathy of the whole country in their efforts, and to the 
extent to which funds are necessary there ought to be 
no difficulty in supplying them for such fundamentally 
important work. 



CASE PAPERS. 
By F. Petty. 

I. 

Name. — A. 

Family. — Father and mother and six children. 

Occupations. — Father : Out of work, has been to 
Hollesley Bay ; previously a currier, before that twelve 
years in the Army. 

Mother : Home duties ; before marriage was an 
attendant at an asylum. 

Children : At school, 2 ; under school age, 4. 

Dwelling. — Two ground floor rooms ; rent 6s. 6d. 
a week. 

Health. — Mother not strong ; two children ricketty. 

Cleanliness. — Clean when husband in work, but phy- 
sical and moral courage rather in abeyance now. 

Washing Facilities. — Wash-house in yard. 

Bathing Facilities. — One zinc bath and one basin. 

Sanitary Conditions. — House not very clean ; water 
fetched in from yard. 

Cooking Apparatus. — Small open fire; no oven. 

Cooking Utensils, Etc. — Two saucepans and frying 
pan ; very little crockery and knives and forks. Two 
cupboards (one large). 

Source of Education. — Father : Country school (Ely) ; 
newspapers ; books. 

Mother : Country school (Devonshire) ; reading and 
classes at the Welcome. 



The Pudding Lady. 35 

Cooking lessons were given during the husband's 
work at Hollesley Bay. At my first visit (<after pre- 
liminary), on October 14th, I found that Mrs. A. had 
brought in | qrtn. flour, J lb. suet, id. baking powder, 
and id. raisins. The suet was ready chopped and the 
raisins stoned. She made three puddings, one with 
raisins, two plain, and was so excited when they were 
successful that she sent the raisin one to the " Sister " 
and the " cooking lady " at the Welcome, " to show." 

The cost of the three puddings was 3! d. ; we used 
part of the suet and a very little butter to grease the 
cups and paper for the top. The three youngest chil- 
dren had nearly half a pudding each, and the remain- 
ing piece was divided between the two big girls, the 
mother (who dines at the Welcome) keeping a tiny 
mouthful, just to taste it. The two big girls have 
dinner at school. The children had a teaspoonful of 
golden syrup each with their pudding, and seemed to 
enjoy it very much. 

At the second lesson Mrs. A. had brought in ijd. 
tomatoes, id. pot-herbs, id. packet desiccated soup, 
and flour. The baby was asleep, and the three children 
and a neighbour's child, all rather dirty, were round 
the table most of the time. The mother seemed help- 
less amongst them sometimes. I got her to grate and 
chop the vegetables, which we then put on to boil with 
the tomatoes and half the packet of soup. Then she 
made the suet mixture, making twelve little balls, and 
as soon as the stew was boiling they were put in. I 
had seen that a good kettleful of water was heating at 
the same time. We then started to wash the three 
children. The boy of three is very strong-willed, and 



36 The Pudding Lady. 

the mother says she finds it very difficult at times to 
wash him, particularly his neck, as he says she tickles 
him, and he screams. It was rather a business, but they 
all got clean, and the mother did their hair, so that they 
all looked fresh and nice. The cost of the stew was 
5^d. , and it did for two days for the three children. 

Mrs. A. was telling some of the mothers at the Wel- 
come about this stew, and they said, " That is what we 
want, miss ; somebody to show us how to make nour- 
ishing meals for the children out of the little money we 
have." Mrs. A. also says she has learnt from the lec- 
tures at the Welcome how she went wrong in the 
feeding of the two children who have rickets so badly. 
" Too much starch and not enough fat," she said. 
Both the father and mother seem to come from good 
yeoman stock, iand to be the poorest of all their families 
on both sides. The father seems to have a strong cha- 
racter, and is afraid of his wife sinking to the level of 
the other Somers Town women. The influence of the 
Welcome is certainly helping her in every way to get a 
new grip of the powers and faculties she was losing. 

Third lesson. The mother wanted to make ginger 
pudding. We used her materials, except the suet, 
which I had with me, and we made the pudding, the 
children having golden syrup with it. We also had a 
consultation over cutting up garments and making 
them into clothes for the little one. 

Fourth lesson. We made maoaroni and tomato 
stew, thickened with oatmeal (fine). Cost 5jd., enough 
for five children, and a small share for mother. The 
mother is fond of reading; they prefer " Lloyd's " as a 
weekly, because husband says " it's more edifying, and 




The Pudding Lady. 37 

does not give so many ghastly details as some of the 
others." 

Fifth lesson. We made lentil stew with rice — cost 
3^d. — with an additional piece of bread for each. The 
mother has improved much, but still needs pulling up. 
She has been giving the children a good deal of tea, 
and I talked strongly on this point to her. 

Sixth lesson. The husband had come back from 
Hollesley Bay, and she was anxious to show him how 
she could make a pudding, so we made a date one. 



II. 

Name. — B. 

Family. — Father, mother, three children (two at 
school, one baby). 

Occupations. — Father: A builder's labourer; 25s. a 
week. 

Mother : Home duties ; before marriage, general 
servant. 

Dwelling. — One room, third floor front, 4s. 6d. 

Health. — Good. 

Cleanliness. — Everything very clean. Husband him- 
self dusts and cleans if he thinks she has not done it 
enough. The place is very homelike and comfortable. 

Washing Facilities. — Good wash-house in basement; 
has also large basin in room for washing up dishes, 
bathing, etc. It was washed, and used for mixing 
pudding in. 

Bathing Facilities. — One large basin mentioned 
above and a small bath. 

Sanitary Conditions. — Very clean tenement. Two 



38 The Pudding Lady. 

windows Jn room, good amount of light and air; even 
with windows shut air comes all round frames, as they 
are badly fitting. 

Cooking Apparatus. — Small open fire; oven at side. 

Cooking Utensils. — One large saucepan and one 
small ; not many dishes. Everything has been sold off 
twice while he has been out of work ; now they are 
making headway, and getting back gradually what they 
have lost. 

Source of Education. — Father : At Board School, 
and has read a great deal since, books and newspapers. 
Bought a harmonium cheaply from a friend, and is 
saving up to have it thoroughly repaired. 

Mother: Short time at school; started work at 12, 
and has quite forgotten how to read and write ; not 
sufficient brain power to apply herself to it now; gets 
her small girl of 7 to read simple stories and hymns to 
her in the evenings. The father does not do anything 
to interest them in that way, and the present baby is 
evidently the first one he has been interested in. Has 
been member of Welcome for some time. 

Children : Two at Council Schools. 

Remarks. — Everything is bought in small quantities, 
because Mrs. B. says she likes to know exactly how 
she stands every day as regards money. Also that 
when ishe used to lay out money on Saiturdays the chil- 
dren once developed scarlet fever, and she lost almost 
a week's provisions then. She allows 1 oz. of tea per 
day (id.), and gets Jd. extra if they have tea and 
bloaters for dinner. She does not know much about 
cooking, and is most grateful for lessons. She has no 
time for recreation, and looks very much forward to 



The Pudding Lady. 39 

visits. She likes going to the Welcome, and has learnt 
much from the lectures. She cannot attend very often, 
because she has a good deal to do with three children 
and keeping the home clean. Moreover, she has bad 
varicose veins, and does not always feel up to walking. 
The husband is a native of a suburb of Birmingham. 
He 'is evidently a rather particular, fussy man ; gets on 
the wife's nerves because he never lets her irest a 
minute when he is at home, making her clean and dust 
and wash. I told her she was really more lucky than 
those whose husbands itake no interest in their homes, 
and she agreed. She cannot read, and he won't teach 
her, because he says she should have learnt before. 
Her eldest little girl of 7 can now read hymns and little 
simple stonies to her. 

At the visits 'the mother was surprised that suet 
puddings could be made so easily, for, though she did 
cooking before marriage, it was mostly only joints and 
vegetables. We also made haricot stew, lentil stew, 
etc., on later visits. They all like the vegetable stews, 
but the children seem to miss meat. The mother says 
she will give them less meat now she knows of these 
nourishing dishes. She allows her husband 6d. out of 
her housekeeping money if he can't get home to dinner, 
and when he is out like that she arranges to have a 
" relish " for his tea, either bloaters, sprats, or cheese 
and pickles. 

III. 

Name. — C. 

Family. — Young couple, with twin babies under one 
year. 



4o The Pudding Lady. 

Occupations. — Father : French polisher, but out of 
work three months of the year ; income varies. 

Mother : Home duties. 

Dwelling. — Two rooms on first floor, 6s. a week. 

Health. — Good. 

Cleanliness. — Clean and wholesome. 

Washing Facilities. — Outside wash j house, but does 
most in back room on kitchener. 

Bathing Facilities. — One zinc bath. 

Sanitary Conditions. — Stairs clean ; one large window 
in living room (front; back room only used for odd 
jobs) ; window not often open. They say there is so 
much draught. 

Cooking Apparaius. — Small open fire. Kitchener in 
back room only occasionally lighted. 

Cooking Utensils. — Good supply, enough for parents 
and the two babies ; also crockery. 

Source of Education. — Father : Council School. 

Mother : Council School and Welcome. 

This young woman (aged 20) is bright and intelligent, 
very independent, keen to learn. She keeps babies and 
home very clean, but dislikes open windows. She has 
good ideas on marketing and cooking, and only wants 
a little advice as to a few dishes. 

Her husband was out of work for fourteen weeks 
after the birth of the babies, so they got very low, and 
are only now making a little headway (things in pawn). 
I found window shut ; explained the necessity of fresh 
air, especially as she says that the babies are subject 
to colds. Mother has dinners at the Welcome, and 
was anxious to stay on for the lecture, but did not 
know how she was to manage about the babies. She 



The Pudding Lady. 41 

had only one shawl, and it was too damp a day to take 
them out without any extra covering. I went down to 
the Welcome, got a shawl, took it back, and carried 
one baby down, while the mother carried the other. 
She was most grateful, and I have arranged to go on 
Friday to help her to cook a dinner for her husband. 
She appears to be a sensible girl, and although she has 
had much trouble since she was married, does not 
" believe in going about with a long face," and says 
she hates to ask for help in any way. It " makes her 
feel such a sneak." 

IV. 

Name. — D. 

Family. — Father, mother, one baby. 

Occupations. — Father : Out of work, was at mineral 
water factory. 

Mother : Home duties and office cleaning ; was at 
mineral water factory, also in service. 

Dwelling. — One top floor room, 3s. 6d. a week. 

Health. — Good. Baby bronchial. 

Cleanliness. — Person and home fairly clean. 

Washing Facilities. — Wash-house in basement ; over 
fifty steps for water to be carried up and down. 

Bathing Facilities. — One large enamel basin, kept 
for bathing and washing up dishes and baby's clothes. 

Sanitary Conditions. — House fairly clean and well 
aired. One glass door, acting as window, opens on to 
leads ; cannot be opened if rainy or stormy weather. 
Gets a fair amount of sunlight into the room ; no build- 
ing obstructs in any way. 

Cooking Utensils. — Has a good supply, was well 



42 The Pudding Lady. 

stocked when she got married ; still has most of a tea 
service and a few dinner plates. 

Cooking Apparatus. — Small open fireplace. 

Source of Education. — Father : Very short time at 
school, and only at intervals, so now cannot read or 
write. Was earning 35s. a week, and had saved ^5 
and some furniture when he was married. 

Mother : At Board School ; is very intelligent, reads 
newspapers to her husband ; gets papers from office 
where she cleans. 

Furniture. — There are no cupboards in the room, but 
the husband has fitted up some shelves for china, and 
they have a bed (fairly good bedding), chest of drawers, 
washstand, table, and four chairs. 

They got behind with their rent while he was out of 
work, and she was " confined," so that now they have 
to pay at least 6s. per week for rent, and by the time 
they pay back some of what they have borrowed there 
is left just enough to buy tea, sugar, bread, and 
a little dripping. The grandmother, who is there 
during ithe day, occasionally earns a few coppers, and 
they try to have a good dinner on Sundays. They get 
a few coppers also by selling the old newspapers Mrs. 
D. gets from the office. 

Mrs. D. doesn't know much about cooking, and has 
much appreciated the six lessons in cooking she has 
received. 

Coal is always bought in by the " penn'orth " (7 lbs.). 
She gets her meat and bread (usually by going early in 
the mornings and buying them cheap. (She gets quite 
a good amount of meat from a Bond Street butcher for 



The Pudding Lady. 43 

2d. and 3d. ; enough to make two pies or steak pud- 
dings, or a large stew for five grown-ups). 

The husband had a month's imprisonment for assault- 
ing a policeman while he (D.) was iselling papers with- 
out a licence. Mrs. D. worked in the Duchess of Marl- 
borough's Home during that time, and was very happy. 
She learned how to make men's shirts, and has since 
helped her mother to take a few orders. 

The grandfather on the paternal side has scarcely 
ever done any work ; has depended on his wife for sup- 
port (office cleaning and washing). The grandparents 
on maternal side appear to have been good workers. 
The mother earns 10s. per week, and as that is almost 
the entire income ait present, it does no* leave much for 
food. 

At one visit she was anxious to make a suet dumpling 
again, because she had tried by herself, and her hus- 
band could not eat it ; iit had all gone to pieces. She 
was most interested in vegetable sitews. All these 
families feel poverty most if it (deprives them of their 
Sunday dinner ; they do not mind living on tea and 
bread all the week i<f they can have a good Sunday 
meal. One reason for this may be that the husbands 
are at home, and the good ones will look after the 
children, and at times even cook the vegetables. Also 
they all have time to enjoy the meal, the memory of 
which lasts till the next Sunday. 



Name. — E. 

Family. — Father, mother, three children (two at 
school). 



44 The Pudding Lady. 

Occupations. — Father: Ait brewery; 20s. a week; 
formerly sixteen years in -the Army. 

Mother : Home duties ; formerly at bookbinding. 

Dwelling. — One room third floor, 5s. a week. 

Health. — Good. 

Cleanliness. — Clean and wholesome. 

Washing Facilities. — Wash-house in yard ; in winter 
everything has .to be dried in the one living room. 

Bathing Facilities. — One large enamel basin and a 
zinc bath. Water has to be carried up and down to 
the yard. 

Sanitary Conditions. — Clean tenement. Two win- 
dows in room, one always open ; water kept in an un- 
covered can in the room. 

Cooking Apparatus. — Open kitchener with oven at 
the side; also gas ring. 

Cooking Utensils. — One large saucepan, washing 
basin used for washing up and cooking; fair supply of 
crockery, knives, spoons, and forks ; board for baking. 

Furniture. — They have a large bed and chair-bed, 
table, five chairs, w&shstand, and chest of drawers. 
Two large cupboards are in the room. 

Source of Education. — Father : Board School, irre- 
gularly. 

Mother : Board School; left ait 12. Member of Wel- 
come. 

Children : Council Schools ; Band of Hope. 

Remarks. — The mother is intelligent and capable ; 
sihe is allowed 18s. per week by her husband; lays in 
stores for the week (1 cwt. coals, tea, sugar, rice, etc.) ; 
puts by 6d. per week for clothes and boots ; is country 
bred (Oxfordshire), and comes from respectable people. 



The Pudding Lady. 45 

Her father had a furniture shop, but lost everything 
by betting. Her sisters are in service lin good families, 
and she thinks it is better for girls in every way than 
working in a faotory or shop. The husband drank 
very heavily when ithey were first married, but when the 
boy was bom, and she nearly died, that had a sobering 
effect on him, and he has been a total abstainer since. 
They seem a very happy family, and are fond of reading, 
belong to a library, Jd. per month, and get nice books, 
which they can read to the children in the evenings. 
The husband pays insurance against sickness out of 
his own money. He has had a bad cough for some 
time ; I advised dispensary, as he is afraid he might lose 
his work if he takes time off for hospital, and funds do 
not run to private doctor. The mother has a good idea 
of cooking, but is anxious to learn simple dishes that 
are nourishing. They have a good meat meal every 
Sunday, with generally some of it over for Monday, 
and meat at one other meal of the week 

On my first visit we made lentil stew. They had 
" no idea they were so tasty." 

Second visit. We made short crust with nut butter, 
put it on a large plate, placed chopped apples and 
raisins on that, with a little sugar, and baked it. They 
had chops for the father and mother, and gravy and 
vegetables for the children, so this wholesome pudding 
was much appreciated. The father had knitted a vest 
for the baby, and was glad I was there when he came 
home for dinner, so that I could show him how to do 
the shoulders. He has been a soldier — learnt then how 
to knit. He likes best to knit with four needles, so 
I showed him how he could do the vest with four. 



46 The Pudding Lady. 

Third visit. Mrs. E. undertook to write down her 
weekly budget. 

Fourth visit. Budget produced (see page 85). The 
father had knitted another vest for the baby, and 
helped with the budget. 

Fifth visit. We made haricot bean and tomato stew 
with potatoes (cost 6d.), which was sufficient for father, 
mother, and two children. They said they did not 
know when they had tasted such a delicious dish, and 
they felt quite satisfied after it. 



VI. 

Name. — F. 

Family. — Father, mother, five children (three at 
school, two at home). 

Occupations. — Father : Out of work ; formerly on 
railway, now hawks fish and cheap vegetables. 

Mother : Home duties and charing ; worked formerly 
in book factory. 

Dwelling. — Two basement rooms, 4s. 6d. per week. 

Health. — Rather delicate. 

Cleanliness.— Clean and, for basement, airy. 

Washing Facilities. — Wash-house in yard. 

Bathing Facilities. — Large zinc bath and small basin 
(latter used for dishes as well) ; water to be carried 
from tap in yard, in small jugs or saucepans. 

Sanitary Conditions. — Fairly clean tenement. In 
living room one large window, open generally ; door on 
to area ; plenty of air comes in round the door. 

Cooking Apparatus. — Open fire, with oven at side. 



The Pudding Lady. 47 

Cooking Utensils. — Three saucepans, two enamel pie 
dishes, all old ; small amount of crockery, knives and 
forks. 

Source 0/ Education. — Father: Board School; men's 
club while employed by railway ; Welcome Club for 
men ; meetings at church ; newspapers. 

Mother : Board School ; member of Welcome. 

Children : Board School ; Band of Hope. 

Remarks. — The parents are from good stock on both 
sides. The father lost good work through drink ; is 
now teetotaler, trying hard to get back into a good 
position. The Church is trying to help him. Mrs. F. 
has benefited much by the Welcome, and is now most 
interested in learning cutting-out and making garments, 
as well as cooking. She is not given any money by her 
husband. He keeps it all and buys everything himself. 
The baby has had a pint of milk a day allowed him by 
a lady, and gets nursery milk in addition. He is quite 
big and fat, but shows signs of rickets. There is not 
much sun in basement dwellings, and the mother does 
not go out much. The father's mother has been in an 
asylum for 19 years, had a large family, lost four chil- 
dren in one month through fever, and was never 
11 right " afterwards; the husband died shortly after. 

The mother goes to meetings at church with her 
husband. He will not go by himself, and she is 
thankful to go with him, to keep some influence over 
him. 

The mother's father died young, and his widow mar- 
ried again. The mother worked at a factory all day, 
and the stepfather would never allow her to go out in 
the evenings, and only rarely on Sunday, so she was 



48 The Pudding Lady. 

glad to marry, thinking it would mean freedom ! She 
was then 18, and the husband 20. 

The children have Quaker oats for breakfast when 
money runs to it, and get a good many kippers, 
bloaters, etc. 

At subsequent visits we made baked suet puddings, 
macaroni pudding and lentil stew. The mother was 
most interested to hear of the cutting-out class, and 
means to join. She was very grateful when shown 
how to finish off a baby's vest and how to" cut out a 
pair of knickers for her small boy out of an old cape 
she had washed. 

VII. 

Name. — G. 

Family. — Father, mother, three children (one at 
school). 

Occupations. — Father : A motor omnibus conductor 
(odd man) ; wages, about 15s. a week. 

Mother : Home duties, occasional monthly nursing ; 
has been in service. 

Dwelling. — Two rooms and scullery in buildings, 7s. 
a week. 

Health. — Middling. Father .asthmatic. 

Cleanliness. — Clean and tidy. 

Washing Facilities. — Copper and sink in scullery, 
also tap. 

Bathing Facilities. — Enamel basin and small zinc 
bath. 

Sanitary Conditions. — Clean buildings ; through ven- 
tilations between rooms ; light and air not very good. 

Cooking Apparatus. — Close range, oven, and boiler. 



The Pudding Lady. 49 

Cooking Utensils. — Fair supply of saucepans and 
crockery. One basin for washing up and cooking. 

Source of Education. — Father : Board School ; news- 
papers and books. 

Mother : Country school ; then as general servant, 
and afterwards maid to an old lady ; always has liked 
reading. Member of Welcome, also mothers' meeting. 

Remarks. — Mrs. G. is a Shropshire woman, and her 
great ambition is to get back there and get her boys 
trained as gardeners. She is sensible and intelligent, 
and has good ideas on food and general management, 
also is very resourceful as regards making clothes for 
children. She is never more than a fortnight behind 
with the rent, and is generally clear. The husband 
attends Brompton Hospital for his asthma. They are 
a very self-respecting couple. 

At my first visit the mother had been shopping, and 
had got 5 lbs. of potatoes for id. and a small chop 
(ijd.) for the husband. His dinner consisted of that 
and some boiled rice. The mother and children were 
having some odd scraps of vegetables, so they wel- 
comed the idea of a pudding. The place was very clean 
and homelike. 

At subsequent visits we made various stews. The 
date pudding is now a favourite dish in the various 
families I have visited. None of the mothers seemed 
to have heard of cooking dates before, and now they 
make changes by boiling them with rice, etc., as well 
as in suet mixture. 



50 The Pudding Lady. 

VIII. 

Name. — H. 

Family. — Father, mother, five children. 

Occupations. — Father : Painter's labourer, often out 
of work. 

Mother : Home duties ; was tailoress. 

Dwelling. — Two top floor rooms, 6s. 6d. per week. 

Health. — Good. 

Cleanliness. — Mother a very clean woman, and the 
whole place is very tidy, even in the early morning" 
visits (10 a.m.); eldest girl aged 12 will not dress or 
go out on Sundays if she has no clean clothes to put 
on. (This has been difficult to manage, for to buy soap 
with no money coming in has been almost impossible 
at times). 

Washing Facilities. — Wash-house in yard, zinc bath 
upstairs for small clothes and when not much firing in 
house. 

Bathing Facilities. — Zinc bath iand a large enamel 
basin (also used for cooking) ; tap in yard. 

Sanitary Conditions. — Staircase and yard very clean. 
(Mother gets rent a little reduced for keeping passage 
and doors to front and back clean). Two windows in 
living room, one always open, and door generally open ; 
with open fireplace, room has always smelt fresh. 

Cooking Apparatus. — Open range, with oven at side. 

Cooking Utensils. — Good supply of saucepans and 
frying pan, also one or two pudding basins. Small 
supply of crockery. 

Furniture. — Have had to sell some of the furniture. 
Have large bed in living room, also chair-bed, chest 
of drawers, tables and chairs, two cupboards ; home- 



The Pudding Lady. 51 

made cupboard on landing (sticks and coal below and 
any food on top shelves). 

Source of Education. — Father : Board School and 
newspapers. 

Mother : Ragged School, but irregular attendance 
(had stepmother, who kept her at home), so can only 
read and write a very little ; mostly self-taught ; mem- 
ber of Welcome. 

Children : Council Schools, Sunday School (Presby- 
terian), Passmore Edwards' Settlement Evenings. 

Remarks. — The mother says she thought she knew 
a bit about cooking, but has learnt some very useful 
hints from these lessons. 

The husband's mother is to have the eldest girl of 13 
to stay with her for good when the girl leaves school in 
the summer. The grandmother is a widow, who has 
cleaned law offices for a great many years, and the 
whole connection seems respectable and self-respecting. 

The husband worked for eight years for one man, 
who did repairs for a house agent all over London. The 
agent decided last year to give the work to a man in 
each district, so H. 's employer could not afford to keep 
him on, and he has had only occasional odd jobs since. 
Evidently the home has been kept very nicely and com- 
fortably. The mother says she has never believed in 
buying cooked things, " as you never know what you 
are getting." She has been most interested in the 
vegetable stews. 

IX. 
Name. — I. 

Family. — Father, mother, five children (three at 
school, two below school age). 



52 The Pudding Lady. 

Occupations. — Father : Labourer, often out of work. 

Mother : Occasional monthly nursing and charing ; 
was general servant. 

Dwelling. — Two first floor rooms, 7s. per week. 

Health. — Good. 

Cleanliness. — Clean and tidy. 

Washing Facilities. — Generally goes to public baths. 

Bathing Facilities. — One large enamel basin, tap in 
yard ; water stored in room in zinc can, no cover. 

Sanitary Conditions. — Clean tenement ; two large 
windows in living room, one generally open, but air 
comes in well all round sashes and frames, also a good 
deal of sun ; not obstructed by other buildings. 

Cooking Apparatus. — Small open fireplace; no 
cooker. 

Cooking Utensils. — Three saucepans, enamel basin, 
board, fair supply of crockery, etc. 

Source of Education. — Father : School in Uxbridge. 

Mother : School till 12, then service, and has learnt 
all she knows by reading and " keeping her eyes and 
oars open." 

Children : Council Schools. 

Furniture. — Large bed in living room, two tables, 
four chairs, two small cupboards; china, etc., kept on 
shelves with pinked-out paper hanging from edge. 

Remarks. — Two children are by present husband. 
He is often out of work, and so they have got behind 
with the rent, also with the bread account. The baker 
lets them run up an account while the husband is out 
of work, because they pay up as soon as he gets work. 
A soldier son and a daughter in service send home a 
few shillings at times. 



The Pudding Lady. 53 

This is a very clean home, nice paper on the shelves, 
and the bedding-, though poor, is very clean ; the enamel 
cups we used had belonged to Mrs. I.'s father. In this 
home there was a special basin kept for cooking-, and a 
vegetable knife. The water was kept in the living room 
in an enamel pail. The children seemed happy and well 
cared for. 

The mother had done "a bit " of cooking before 
marriage, but no simple and cheap dishes. She thought 
meat was a necessity for every stew, and was surprised 
at the tastiness of the vegetable stews and their nour- 
ishing qualities. She and the eldest child, a girl of 13, 
and a boy of 10, were all much interested, and asked 
many questions about cooking. The 13-year-old had 
had some cooking lessons at school. 



X. 

Name. — J. 

Family. — Father, mother, six children. 

Occupations. — Father : Borough Council employee ; 
23s. a week. 

Mother : Home duties ; was at corset factory. 

Dwelling. — Two second floor rooms, 6s. per week. 

Health. — Not strong; mother had tuberculous knee 
before marriage ; father indigestion ; eldest girl weak 
heart, went to open-air school; children good country 
complexions. 

Cleanliness. — Home and persons very clean and neat. 

Washing Facilities. — Outside wash-house. 

Bathing Facilities. — Zinc bath and enamel basin ; tap 
on landing. 



54 The Pudding Lady. 

Sanitary Conditions. — Stair to this floor very clean, 
rest of house only moderately so. Large living - room ; 
two good windows, kept open. 

Cooking Apparatus. — Open fire, no kitchener in 
living room ; kitchener with oven in back room, only 
occasionally used. 

Cooking Utensils. — Small supply of saucepans and 
one frying pan. (Borrowed large saucepan for fish 
stew). Enamel basin and one or two pudding basins ; 
fair supply of crockery, knives, forks and spoons. 
Not as many ornaments as in some homes. 

Source of Education. — Father : Board School ; news- 
papers. 

Mother : Rather irregularly at National School. 
Started work early. Member of Welcome. Had 
baby weighed regularly ; it died of meningitis (tuber- 
cular) last summer. 

Children : Council School, Band of Hope, Children's 
Happy Evenings, Passmore Edwards' Settlement 
Evenings, and Sunday School. 

Remarks. — The six children are all girls; there have 
been three boys as well, but they are all dead, one of 
measles, two of brain disease, said to have been tuber- 
cular meningitis. The father gives the mother £i a 
week, and pays into two insurance societies, id. a 
week into' a hospital fund. The mother finds it difficult 
to manage on £i per week, and to keep them in 
decent clothes as well. She has lately been helping a 
sister, whose husband is out of work. Her husband 
has been over two years under the Borough Council ; 
he was out of work for nearly two years before that, 
after having had to give up a carman's job. 



The Pudding Lady. 55 

The mother has a depressed sort of nature, promises 
to be more cheerful. Both parents come from country 
grandparents. The mother's mother died young - , and 
the stepmother kept her from school a great deal. 
She left school altogether at 13; lived with a married 
sister for a time as help, then went to a corset factory. 

The children are kept very neatly, and look wonder- 
fully well, though the principal diet is bread and 
dripping or sugar. The husband has a delicate diges- 
tion, so the mother gives him fish, and was glad to 
know of vegetable stews. I showed her how to make 
a fish stew with oatmeal and flour dumplings, which 
she specially liked. Few children care for oatmeal, 
probably because it is badly cooked. The mother pays 
into a Country Holiday Fund for the children, also 
into the School Boot Club. The father was insured 
for burial, but it lapsed when he was out of work two 
years ago, and they have not taken it up since. 



XL 

Name. — K. 

Family. — -Father, mother, seven children, of whom 
three at school, two under school age. 

Occupations. — Father : Mends parquet flooring ; 
was cabinet maker ; 30s. a week when in work ; some- 
times out of work for weeks together. 

Mother : Home duties ; formerly service. 

Eldest son : Weak heart, does odd jobs, brings in 
a few shillings occasionally. 

Eldest daughter : Just gone to service. 

Dwelling. — Two rooms second floor, 7s. a week. 



56 The Pudding Lady. 

Health. — Mother delicate ; consumption and intem- 
perance in the family. 

Cleanliness. — Clean rooms. 

Washing Facilities. — Wash-house in yard ; has large 
zinc bath (shared with mother's sister) to do small 
washing upstairs ; tap in yard. 

Bathing Facilities. — Large china basin and enamelled 
one. Dishes waished in latter as well, also babies' 
clothes ; water carried up and down from yard, kept in 
large zinc can. 

Sanitary Conditions. — Fairly clean tenement, in 
good condition ; rooms back and front, through venti- 
lation, plenty of light and air ; two windows in living 
room, open. 

Cooking Apparatus. — Small open fire; no oven. 

Cooking Utensils. — One large, two small saucepans, 
one large enamel pie dish, two small pudding basins, 
a fair supply of crockery, knives, etc. 

Source of Education. — Father : Board School. 

Mother : Board School and Welcome. 

Children : Council Schools ; Band of Hope. 

Furniture. — Large cupboard in living room, large 
bed, two tables, sewing machine (got on hire-purchase 
system, says she has already paid over ^5 on it), 
chest of drawers, and several chairs. 

Remarks. — The mother is an intelligent, sensible 
woman, who manages her money affairs well ; .has nice 
ideas (in their limited accommodation) about screening 
off a small bed for the eldest girl in the bedroom. 
The eldest boy has an extra room in another part of the 
house. The husband occasionally drinks, but as a rule 
is a good husband, and gives his wife a good propor- 



The Pudding Lady. 57 

tion of his wages when he is in work (28s. out of 
30s.). The mother sometimes makes a little extra 
money by buying pieces of stuff in the market, making 
them into children's clothes, and selling them to 
neighbours. 

XII. 

Name. — L. 

Family. — Father, mother, seven children (five at 
school). 

Occupations. — Father : Builder's labourer, formerly 
French polisher ; does not earn much. 

Mother : Home duties ; previously in service. 

Dwelling. — Two third floor rooms, 6s. 6d. a week. 

Health. — Fairly good. One child tuberculous ; one 
has weak chest, after pneumonia. 

Cleanliness. — Clean and wholesome. 

Washing Facilities. — Wash-house in yard, but often 
does small washings in living room. 

Bathing Facilities. — One large enamel basin, almost 
bath ; used also for washing dishes. Water to be 
oarried up and down from basement. 

Sanitary Conditions. — Fairly clean tenement. One 
window in living room (opposite door) always open. 
Sun and air not obstructed by any building. 

Cooking Apparatus. — Small stove; open fire with 
oven at side. 

Cooking Utensils. — Three saucepans, two large and 
one small, one basin kept for cooking, also board, and 
fair supply of crockery. 

Source of Education. — Father : Board School; news- 
papers and books. 



58 The Pudding Lady. 

Mother: Small school at Cheshunt ; left at 12, but 
can read and write well ; favourite book, " Jane Eyre " ; 
reads when she oan get time, not often now. Regular 
attendant at Welcome. 

Children evidently bright and intelligent ; go to Band 
of Hope and Sunday School. 

Remarks. — The mother is a very sensible, intelligent 
woman. There is one large cupboard, and on Satur- 
day she gets in groceries for the week — J lb. tea, 2 lbs. 
sugar, 2d. tin milk, rice, barley, oatmeal, etc., accord- 
ing to the amount of the husband's wages. None of 
these families have any place for storing coals, and 
never can get more than i-Jd. worth at a time ; they can 
get 14 lbs, for that in some places. 

The favourite recreation of the children in the even- 
ings is to play at shops or school. 

Mrs. L. has been most grateful for the lessons ; she 
has had six. She is very good at making garments for 
the children, cutting down large ones, etc. She always 
hopes to be able to go back to the country to live ; she 
used to be comfortably off before the French polish- 
ing trade got so bad. 

At my first visit she was washing baby, and when she 
finished I nursed him, and got him off to sleep while 
she cleared off the bath and got out the materials for 
cooking. She was so relieved to find the pudding 
could be baked, and was only too pleased to use the 
saucepan of water for washing flannels. I talked about 
the proportion of wages set aside for food, and she said 
that when her husband was in good work she liked to 
allow 2s. a day for food for a family of their size, to 
give them a good breakfast, dinner, and tea. At my 



The Pudding Lady. 59 

next visit she had got in a vegetable stew, and I sug- 
gested dumplings in it. She had some fine wheat meal, 
and we mixed that with flour ; they were a great success. 
She told me later that her husband had said " It's 
usually cannon balls, but them's real dumplings." Her 
eldest girl (11 years) watched with great interest, and 
says she would like to be a cook when she is grown up. 
At a further visit the mother said she had made 
dumplings on the previous Sunday, but they were still 
a little hard. She was anxious to try date puddings, 
so I made one while she looked on. One of the 
younger children was ill with pneumonia, and was only 
quiet if she was near him. The baby also was fretful. 
The 7-year-old child, who has chronic bronchitis, 
had gone to a Convalescent Home at Bognor for a 
month. This was a great relief to the mother. The 
doctor had said that country air was the only thing for 
the child, her whole chest was so delicate. 



XIII. 

Name. — M. 

Family. — Father, mother, four children (three at 
school). 

Occupations. — Father : Handy-man, painter's 
labourer ; income varies. 

Mother : Home duties ; was at cartridge factory. 

Dwelling. — Two rooms first floor, 6s. a week. 

Health. — Good. 

Cleanliness. — Very clean and tidy. 

Washing Facilities. — Wash-house in yard. 



60 The Pudding Lady. 

Bathing Facilities. — Zinc bath and small basin ; tap 
in yard. 

Sanitary Conditions. — Clean two-storied tenement, 
moderately light and airy ; little square of ground in 
front of house ; one large window in living room, always 
open. 

Cooking Apparatus. — Open range with oven. 

Cooking Utensils. — Three saucepans, a fair supply 
of crockery, basins, spoons, and knives, etc. 

Furniture. — In living room large bed, chest of 
drawers, table, and five chairs ; large cupboard ; has 
homelike appearance. 

Source of Education. — Father ; Board School ; news- 
papers. 

Mother : Catholic School, Welcome. 

Children : Catholic School. 

Remarks. — The mother appears sensible, and has 
good ideas on laying out money ; she has benefited 
greatly from the Welcome in cooking and in learning 
how to make children's garments. The children are 
well-behaved, and the home-life seems most har- 
monious. 

Both parents were born and brought up in London, 
but Mrs. M. comes of Irish people. Her husband is 
often out of work, but they have managed to keep 
their home very nicely and comfortably, and believe 
greatly in open windows. 

At my first visit the children were home from school, 
and were greatly interested in the pudding made. All 
the mothers seem now to have grasped the foundation 
mixture of suet puddings. This mother says that she 
not only enjoys the cookery lesson, but the talk she 



The Pudding Lady. 6i 

can have at the same time. The mothers seem glad to 
g-et out of the ordinary every-day rut, and say it gives 
them new heart to go on again. The rooms get an 
extra "do up " before my visits. 

At further visits we made different vegetable stews, 
and in the talks I was told that her husband did not 
approve of the hire-purchase system. She had once 
been tempted to start a sewing machine in that way, 
and he had sent it off as soon as he came home. She 
was earning a fair wage when she married. She knew 
her husband was only a casual labourer, but as she 
kept on work after her marriage, she did not feel his 
having no regular wage. With an increasing family 
she had to give up work, and finds it very hard at times. 
He works " on his own," doing small repairs as well. 

XIV. 

Name. — N. 

Family. — Father, mother, one baby. 

Occupations. — Father : Odd work ; was formerly car- 
man at £i a week. 

Mother : Home duties ; was a laundress, also assis- 
tant in greengrocer's shop. 

Dwelling. — One top floor room, 3s. a week. 

Health. — Fairly good ; mother suffers from bron- 
chitis, rheumatism, and indigestion. 

Cleanliness. — Persons and home clean and tidy. 

Washing Facilities. — Wash-house in yard, tap as 
well there for whole house. 

Bathing Facilities. — Zinc bath and basin. 

Sanitary Conditions. — House over " wardrobe 
shop," stairs not very clean; believe in open windows. 



62 The Pudding Lady. 

Cooking Apparatus. — Open fire, no oven. 

Cooking Utensils. — Only poor supply now, just very 
bare necessary ones ; small supply of crockery. 

Source of Education. — Father : Board School, reads 
newspapers, saw about Welcome in papers, and got 
his wife to go. Both most appreciative of it. 

Mother : Board School, Welcome, and what her hus- 
band tells her from what he reads. 

Remarks. — The mother is very keen to learn more 
cookery ; she only knows very little, having otherwise 
worked very hard ; she is specially anxious to learn 
dishes for baby, and very keen not to miss " Sister's " 
lectures on the bringing up of infants. She was her- 
self the sixteenth child, and says she has always been 
delicate. Her father had a greengrocer's stall in Cam- 
den Town, and her mother had a flower stall near the 
" Britannia " for about 40 years. (So many were at her 
funeral, " you would 'ave thought it was Royalty ! ") 
The husband's father and mother have all been for a 
great many years in the same firm for which the hus- 
band works. They seem a self-respecting family, and 
never thought they would be without employment, so 
feel it keenly, and the husband gets very depressed. 
He is most devoted to his wife and baby. 



XV. 

Name. — O. 

Family. — Father, mother, one baby; brother aged 16 
years as lodger. 

Occupations. — Father: 14s. to 18s., when in work 
at mineral water factory ; other times, odd jobs. 



The Pudding Lady. 63 

Mother : Home duties ; was at laundry. 

Dwelling. — Two rooms on first floor, 5s. a week. 

Health. — Good. Husband bronchial. 

Cleanliness. — Home and persons clean and tidy. 

Washing Facilities. — Wash-house in yard. 

Bathing Facilities. — Tap on same landing with sink ; 
large enamel basin and small zinc bath. 

Sanitary Conditions. — Clean tenement, though very 
poor. Windows always open ; wall paper in good con- 
dition. 

Source of Education. — Father : Board School till 13 ; 
had passed Vllth Standard ; reads newspapers. 

Mother : Board School ; help in family for a short 
time ; now member of Welcome, and very keen to learn. 

Cooking Apparatus. — Open range with oven at side. 

Cooking Utensils. — Very few, but borrow from 
mother-in-law in same house when necessary. 

Remarks. — The mother is very grateful for lessons, 
and anxious to learn to make cheap dishes that will do 
for baby presently. The husband worked on the tube 
railways for three years, and was put on to drive a 
train, but lost his nerve, and nearly oaused a bad acci- 
dent, therefore was dismissed, and has worked in 
mineral water factories since. This, however, means 
only about 15s. per week, and dismissal for about three 
to four months of each year. His mother has been a 
widow for a great many years. The mother's mother 
has been in the same laundry for a great many years, 
and goes to a Cromer laundry for four months every 
summer. She is going to get Mrs. O. into that as 
soon as the baby is older and can be weaned. 

When her husband is in work again, she is to try 



64 The Pudding Lady. 

to pay into the Provident Club at the Welcome, so that 
she can have a little money " to fall back on " when 
the husband is out. 

XVI. 

Name. — P. 

Family. — Father, mother, two children under school 
age. 

Occupations. — Father : Printer's labourer (a cripple) ; 
wages, 19s. ; regular work. 

Mother : Home duties. 

Dwelling. — One room, second floor of buildings ; 
rent, 3s. 

Health. — Good. 

Cleanliness. — Very good and methodioal. 

Washing Facilities. — General wash-house for build- 
ings. 

Bathing Facilities. — Large basin and zinc bath ; tap 
and sink on same landing. 

Sanitary Conditions. — Very clean buildings; good 
window to room, kept open ; cupboards and room clean 
and wholesome. ' 

Cooking Apparatus. — Close range, brightly polished. 

Cooking Utensils. — Fair supply ; small dinner and 
tea service, neatly set out on shelves. 

Source of Education. — Father: Board School, and 
reading books and newspapers. 

Mother : Board School, reading, and Welcome. 

Remarks. — Both father and mother are very intelli- 
gent ; they pay 6d. <a week all the year round to a club, 
and have 30s. at ChristmaSj or if they get short at 
holiday time they can draw out a little, and pay is. per 



The Pudding Lady. 65 

week till they have made up again. The father also 
pays into a sick club, out-of-work club, and burial 
insurance, and after that the mother calculates how 
much they can spend each day. Neither of them drinks, 
as they disapprove of it, and the mother's father and 
mother are both bad drinkers. The mother was earning 
£1 per week as "feeder" in printing; the father 
worked in the same place. He was dropped acci- 
dentally downstairs when he was a baby, and has been 
a hunchback since. His father is a Navy pensioner, 
and lives in the same building, also has a pension from 
" Hearts of Oak." He asked Mrs. P. to see if I would 
show her some vegetable dishes (lentils, etc.), as he 
cannot eat meat now. " Grandfather would be willing 
to pay you, miss." His mother (i.e., baby's great- 
grandmother) is still alive in the infirmary. The grand- 
father is over 70, and has the Old Age Pension of 5s. 
The mother says her husband is very proud of his 
" old dad." The room is most comfortable and home- 
like. 

XVII. 

Name. — Q. 

Family. — Father, mother, two children (one at 
school). 

Occupations. — Father : Casual work and street 
organ ; was a carman. 

Mother : Occasional cleaning, help with organ ; was 
in service ; together earn enough for rent and a few 
shillings over. 

Dwelling. — One room, first floor back; rent, 3s. 6d. 

Health. — Fairly good ; mother consumptive. 

F 



66 The Pudding Lady. 

Cleanliness. — Clean. 

Washing Facilities. — Wash-house in yard, but 
generally washes small things in zinc bath in room, 
because of extra firing required for wash-house. 

Bathing Facilities. — A zinc bath and a small basin ; 
no tap in room, only in yard. The basin is also used 
for washing up dishes in. 

Sanitary Conditions. — Staircase and general appear- 
ance clean ; window always open unless very stormy. 
Drinking water kept in large basin on shelf behind 
curtain. 

Cooking Apparatus. — Small close kitchener with 
oven. 

Cooking Utensils. — One large and one small sauce- 
pan, frying pan, one enamel pie dish, and small amount 
of crockery, a few knives .and spoons. 

Furniture. — One bed, table, two chairs, one small 
cupboard, and a home-made cupboard (made out of 
large box). 

Source of Education. — Father : None. 

Mother : Board School, then in service ; could read 
books and newspapers ; attends the Welcome. 

Children : One at school, also goes to Band of Hope 
and Sunday School. 

Remarks. — At my first visit I found the drinking 
water kept uncovered on an open shelf. On subse- 
quent visits I found that Mrs. Q. had fixed a curtain 
up to keep it at least out of the way of dust. She has 
a very good head, and has good ideas on making 
garments. I was shown several hats she had made for 
the children (most neatly) out of odd pieces. Every- 
thing is very clean. The husband is out of work practi- 



The Pudding Lady. 67 

cally because of his age (Mrs. Q. is his second wife). 
He was 43 years with one firm, and was dismissed 
when the Employers' Liability Act came into force. 
The firm allowed him a pension of 10s. a week for five 
months. 

At my first visit Mrs. Q. did not beforehand know 
of my coming, and had a large saucepan full of clothes 
boiling on the fire. There was only one other sauce- 
pan, very small, so I suggested that we should bak^ 
the pudding instead of boiling it. Mrs. Q. welcomed 
the idea very much. The only table (a small one) was 
taken up with the washing bath, so we had to make 
shift with a chair. She had a very old pie dish, a small 
basin, and managed to find a knife and spoon. She had 
no jug, and could not afford to buy one. The pudding 
was very successful, and she said later on in the day 
that her husband had much enjoyed it. (Cost 2fd. — 
\ lb. flour, 3 ozs. of suet, half-teaspoonful baking 
powder, a pinch of salt. Eaten with sugar). 

They had evidently been accustomed to better times, 
and these bad times are telling on the mother, who 
does not seem at all well. She is full of the benefit of 
the Welcome, although she has been a member for a 
very short time. 

At further visits I found that the husband had been 
14 accepted " by the Distress Committee, so they were 
feeling very hopeful, also that Mrs. Q. had got a tem- 
porary "job" of three hours daily. They have a 
wonderfully independent spirit, considering their bad 
times. 



68 The Pudding Lady. 

XVIII. 

Name. — R. 

Family. — Father, mother, three children (two, by 
former husband, at school, one at home, two elder 
children away). 

Occupations. — Father : A blacksmith, 20s. to 25s. a 
week. 

Mother : Home duties and occasional charing ; 
formerly in service. 

Dwelling. — Two rooms, ground floor. 

Health. — Delicate ; mother tuberculous. 

Cleanliness. — Clean and wholesome. 

Washing Facilities. — Wash-house in yard ; shares 
zinc bath with sister in same house for small washings 
in dwelling. 

Bathing Facilities. — Large wash basin; zinc bath; 
tap in yard. 

Sanitary Conditions. — Fairly clean tenement, in good 
condition ; through ventilation in rooms, windows 
always open. 

Source of Education. — Father : Board School and 
newspapers. 

Mother : Board School ; member of Welcome for 
nearly three years. 

Cooking Apparatus. — Close range; good-sized oven. 

Cooking Utensils. — Fair amount of saucepans and 
crockery ; uses kitchen table, which is kept very clean, 
for baking on ; large bed in each room, also table and 
about half-a-dozen chairs ; quite homelike and comfort- 
able. 

Remarks. — The mother is very tuberculous, has been 
to a Sanatorium (she says her first husband died of 



The Pudding Lady. 69 

rheumatism). The present husband is her cousin. His 
mother has been many years in an asylum through 
drink, and his father died suddenly some years ago. 
Mrs. R. 's mother is very tuberculous, and the father 
very intemperate ; rather a bad history for the boy by 
this marriage. Mrs. R. seems an intelligent woman, 
and says she has greatly benefited by the Welcome. 

She had done a little cooking before marriage, but 
as that is over fifteen years ago, she has forgotten 
most, and has been glad of cookery lessons, especially 
in suet puddings. 



XIX. 

Name. — S. 

Family. — Father, mother, two children under school 
age. 

Occupations. — Father : Compositor ; income varies. 

Mother : Home duties and occasional blouse-making ; 
formerly dressmaker. 

Dwelling. — Three rooms and scullery, ground floor; 
10s. per week. 

Health. — Mother not strong; her father died lately 
of consumption. 

Cleanliness. — Very good, and rooms well aired. 

Washing Facilities. — Sink in scullery, large basin, 
zinc bath ; water laid on in scullery ; copper. 

Bathing Facilities. — Well furnished in regard to 
basins, and large zinc bath ; boiler in kitchen range. 

Sanitary Conditions. — Very clean and superior tene- 
ment ; well lighted and ventilated. 

Cooking Apparatus. — Good kitchener with oven. 



yo The Pudding Lady. 

Cooking Utensils. — Good supply, very cleanly kept. 

Source of Education. — Father : Board School ; news- 
papers. 

Mother : Board School. 

Remarks. — The father had spells of out of work last 
year; he has lately gone on night duty to get better 
pay, and hopes it will last. I have paid them three 
visits, but cannot start practical cooking lessons till 
the father is again on day work. The two children 
make so much noise that the mother tries to be out ail 
the morning with them. The mother is in rather a 
nervous state, and worries if the slightest noise is 
made. She expects another baby shortly. 



XX. 

Name. — T. 

Family. — Father, mother, two children. 

Occupations. — Father : £i a week when in work at 
eating-house. 

Mother : 12s. to 18s. a week as laundress. Father 
has no work when wife is earning well. 

Dwelling. — One room first floor; rent, 3s. 6d. per 
week. 

Health. — Not good. Mother weak chest. Father 
seems mentally deficient. 

Cleanliness. — Not good, but mother has been ill since 
birth of baby. 

Washing Facilities. — One basin ; wash-house in yard. 
Goes to public baths when money runs to it. 

Bathing Facilities. — One basin (the above one, used 
for everything; pudding was mixed in it); no bath. 



The Pudding Lady. 71 

Sanitary Conditions. — Staircases and passages not 
clean ; windows shut at both visits (assured that they 
were only just shut !). Two windows to living - - room. 

Cooking Apparatus. — Open fire, no oven. 

Cooking Utensils. — Small saucepan ; very few 
spoons, etc., only odd cups and saucers. 

Two small cupboards in room. 

Source of Education. — Father : Board School very 
occasionally. 

Mother : Board School and Welcome. 

Remarks. — The husband got work just after my 
second visit, but evidently owing to bad temper can- 
not keep a situation long. The wife proudly told me 
that when he had a fit on he would not think twice of 
lifting the bed and throwing it out of the window ! 
They have not been so badly off before. This time the 
mother had been ill for some time, and the husband 
could hear of no work. Her baby is small, and evi- 
dently has not sufficient nourishment. The midwife 
had said it ought to have milk, but at present it was 
rather impossible to pay for milk. The two-year-old 
looks clean and well cared-for. The room has prac- 
tically no furniture except the bed. There is an old 
box which does duty for a table. At the first visit I got 
the husband to bustle round, get id. coal, make up 
the fire, and wash the basin for mixing the pudding in. 
(It was the basin they washed in.) They were also 
astonished at how easily a pudding could be made, had 
never thought a suet pudding could be so light, had 
never heard of baking powder being used. 

The mother stores milk in a jam jar on the outside 



*j2 The Pudding Lady. 

window ledge, with a piece of glass on top. The drink- 
ing water was fetched up from the yard in a kettle. 

At later visits I found that the mother had got 
stronger, and had again started laundry work ; so 
things were better. 

XXI. 

Name. — U. 

Family. — Father, mother, one baby. 

Occupations. — Father : Odd jobs at coffee-house ; 
earns occasional shillings. 

Mother : Home duties ; was at bottle washing before 
marriage. 

Dwelling. — One room first floor back, 3s. per week. 

Health. — Good ; baby bronchial. 

Cleanliness. — Untidy, and room stuffy. Mother is 
very lazy, and lies in bed a good deal. 

Washing Facilities. — Wash-house in yard ; tap in 
yard. 

Bathing Facilities. — One small enamel basin ; no 
bath. 

Sanitary Conditions. — Very clean house ; one win- 
dow to room, seldom open ; no cupboards. 

Cooking Apparatus. — Open fire, no oven. 

Cooking Utensils. — Saucepans (one large, one small) 
and frying pan, the wash basin, three cups, and three 
plates; two "bashed" teaspoons and a knife. (Bed 
and chest of drawers, it appeared later, had been lent 
by landlady, w T ho had known Mrs. U. for many years). 

Source of Education. — Father : Irregularly at Board 
School ; was many years in a coffee-house ; said that 
when proprietor's own children grew up, they managed 
business without outsiders. 



The Pudding Lady. 73 

Mother : School and factory ; appears mentally de- 
ficient ; has been member of Welcome for some time, 
and doing well at cooking. She thought it might help 
her with future work. 

Remarks. — The father is said to be very lazy, and 
comes from a family with not much reputation ; very 
rough. They still have a few coloured pictures and 
one or two ornaments (china dogs) got at the time of 
marriage. The pictures and the mantelpiece were 
draped with pink paper. The mother seemed most 
anxious to make the suet pudding. I had materials 
with me, and she remembered the exact quantities of 
everything. It appeared as if laziness and a desire to 
be roused were waging war ; her mental powers do not 
seem sufficient for bringing the latter feeling to the fore. 

She had just returned from a Convalescent Home at 
Brighton. Her husband (out of work) wrote while she 
was away to say he was to be turned out of their home. 
He was still there when she came home. He is a lazy 
man ; not keen to work. She is rather feeble mentally, 
and not capable at present of rousing him up. It is a 
fairly hopeful case, however, as they are both young. 

At my next visit I found the room dirty, the window 
shut, and baby unwashed ; she roused up, however, and 
after we had made the pudding, I got her to wash the 
baby. I do not think he was much accustomed to a 
good scrub, for she had to borrow the basin from the 
landlady, and they had only a very small kettle and 
saucepan. 

The baby was so refreshed that after the mother had 
fed him he went off into a beautiful sleep. The mother 
had knitted a vest and socks for the baby while she was 



74 The Pudding Lady. 

in the Home. Her idea at present is to get work for 
herself, and put the baby in a creche. It will be best 
for the baby, as he is now over ten months old, and the 
regular feeding and cleaning will be very good for him. 
At my next visit the whole family had disappeared, 
leaving no address. 



MISS PETTY'S RECIPES 

Note to Second Edition 

In her work in St. Pancras "The Pudding Lady" was ham- 
pered, like so many social workers have been, by the popular 
prejudice against the use of cheese and the pulses (peas, beans, 
lentils, and peanuts). This can, however, be overcome by patience 
and perseverance. Thus at Edinburgh, even before the war, Mrs. 
Somerville and her fellow Voluntary Health Visitors succeeded in 
bringing about quite an extensive use of lentils. Under the 
stress of existing war conditions, and that stern taskmaster, 
Necessity, such opposition is fast breaking down. 

At Newport, Essex, as in her present work for the National 
Food Reform Association, Miss Petty made free use of 
" Economical Dishes for Workers" (id., post free 2d., 50 for 3s., 
post free 3s. 5d.). This little book has now stood the test of 
many years, and its popularity among social workers and others 
may be inferred from the fact that 50,000 copies were called for 
during the first eighteen months of the war. Many of the dishes 
may be cooked in a tireless cooker (see " Fire less Cookery," by 
Miss Florence Petty, id., post free ad.). The several series of 
" Facts for Patriots " (for contents, see list of publications 
page xxix), have also proved helpful to Miss Petty as to many 
social workers, cookery teachers, and heads of households and 
institutions. 

The prices are those obtaining before the rise had set in that 
preceded the war by some years. 

Miss Petty recommends milk powder as a substitute for new 
or skimmed milk. 

Ed. 
Soups. 
1. 
Potato. — 1 lb. potatoes. 

\ lb. onions. 

1 oz. dripping (size of walnut), or nut butter 

1 tablespoon flour or sago. 

J pint milk. 

A few sticks of celery. 

1 quart water. 



76 The Pudding Lady. 

Cut vegetables into small pieces. 

Melt dripping in clean saucepan. 

Stir vegetables in — do not brown. 

Add water and simmer till tender. 

Beat with large spoon till vegetables are mashed. 

Add sago or flour. 

If flour used, mix first to smooth paste with cold 

water. 
Add milk lastly with pepper and salt. 
Cost, 4d. 

2. 
Fish (with Dumplings). — Cod's head or conger eel 

heads. 
Clean ; then boil slowly in i quart water for i hour. 
Strain, or, if preferred, leave head in saucepan. 
Add dumplings and salt. 
Boil f hour. 

Add thickening and chopped parsley. 
Thickening. — i tablespoon flour; mix with \ pint 

milk, add chopped parsley. 
Dumplings. — £ lb. flour. 

1 lb. medium oatmeal. 

2 oz. suet. 

J teaspoon baking powder. 

i pinch salt. 

Add water slowly to make stiff paste. 

Cut into 12 pieces. 

Roll into balls. 

Cost, 6Jd. 

1 omato. — i lb. tomatoes, 
i onion. 



The Pudding Lady. 77 

J pint milk. 

1 quart water. 

1 tablespoon flour. 

1 oz. butter. 

Salt and pepper. 

J teaspoon sugar. 

Skin and chop up tomatoes and onion. 

Put on to boil with water. 

Boil an hour. 

Add butter and seasoning*. 

Mix flour with water. 

Add to soup, stirring carefully. 

Boil 5 minutes. 

Cost, 4d. 

Stews. 
1. 
Vegetable (with Dumplings). — \ lb. lentils. 
J lb. tomatoes. 

I lb. chestnuts, peeled when raw. 
Salt to taste. 

Soak lentils overnight. Pour away water. 
Cover with fresh water and boil ij hours. 
Add tomatoes (cut up) and chestnuts. 
Add dumplings. 
Boil f hour. 
Dumplings. — § lb. flour. 
J lb. suet. 

J teaspoon baking powder. 
Pinch of salt. 

Mix to stiff paste with water. 
Cut into pieces and roll into balls. 
Cost, 6d. (sufficient for 6 persons). 



78 The Pudding Lady. 

2. 

Haricot Beans. — § lb. haricot beans, 
i \ lbs. onions. 
2 lbs. carrots and turnips. 
2 lbs. potatoes. 
Soak beans overnight. 
Slice carrots and turnips. 
Fry onions in fat in stew-pan till brown. 
Add water, beans, and carrots. 
Simmer for 2\ hours. 
Add turnips and potatoes. 
Boil i hour. 

Dumplings may be cooked with this dish. 
Cost, 6d. (sufficient for 6 persons). 

3- 
Sea Pie. — | lb. meat, 
i carrot, 
i turnip. 
4 potatoes, 
i onion. 

i teacup cold water. 

Put vegetables and meat in layers in saucepan. 
Add water ; bring* to boil. 
Put suet crust on top. 
Cover with lid. 
Simmer ij hours. 
Suet Crust. — 6 ozs. flour. 
2 ozs. suet. 

Pinch of baking powder ; pinch of salt. 
Mix to paste with water. 
Cost, 5^d. (sufficient for 2 grown-ups, 3 children) 



The Pudding Lady. 79 

4- 

Savoury Rice. — i teacup rice. 
i onion. 

i \ ozs. dripping*. 
Sweet herbs, pepper, and salt. 
Melt dripping. 
Slightly brown onion. 
Add rice, sweet herbs, and seasoning. 
Add i teacup of water. 
Cook till tender. 
Milk may be used instead of water. 

Fish Dishes. 
i. 
Tasty Herrings. — 3 herrings. 

3 ozs. bread crumbs. Mix dry with sweet herbs and 

pepper and salt. 
Split herrings ; remove large bone. , 
Slightly grease baking tin. 
Place first herring, outside downwards. 
Sprinkle dry ingredients on. 
Place next herring on top, inside downwards. 
Sprinkle remainder of dry ingredients on top. 
Place last herring on top, inside downwards. 
Put greased paper on top. 
Bake in moderate oven 20 minutes. 

2. 

Tasty Haddocks. — These are done in the same way 
as herrings, but 
The stuffing mixture must have 1 oz. of dripping or 
suet, and must be made moist with milk or water. 



80 The Pudding Lady. 

3- 

Baked Cod or Hake. — Place slices of either fish in pie 
dish. 
Pour in a little milk, pepper and salt. 
Place a few small pieces of butter or dripping on top. 
Bake in moderate oven for \ hour. 

4- 
For an Invalid. — A slice of fish in small pie dish. 
Beat an egg. 
Add pepper and salt. 
Pour over fish and bake £ hour ; or 
Put in greased basin and steam. 

Egg and Milk Recipes. 
1. 
Potato Omelet. — Melt 1 oz. butter in frying pan. 
Put in two cold sliced potatoes. 
Lightly brown. 

Beat 1 egg, add £ pint milk, a little pepper and salt. 
Pour into frying pan. 
Cook slowly till set. 
Ordinary margarine or nut margarine may be used. 

2. 

Savoury Custard. — Beat an egg. 
Add pepper and salt. 
Add a teacup of white soup or stock. 
Pour into greased basin, 
Cover with greased paper. 

Put into saucepan that has sufficient water to come 
half-way up basin. 



The Pudding Lady. 8i 

Steam slowly till set. 
Then turn out. 

3- 
Egg and Milk Jelly. — J of i-pint packet of lemon or 
vanilla jelly. 
Cut up and put in basin. 
Add a teacup of boiling water ; stir. 
When almost cold add 1 beaten egg and a teacup 

of milk. 
Place in cool place till set. 

4- 

Savoury Egg. — Grease a small basin or teacup. 
Sprinkle a little chopped parsley over grease. 
Break an egg carefully into cup. 
Put cup in a saucepan of boiling water. 
Water must only come half-way up cup. 
Cook slowly till set. 
Always have lid on saucepan. 
Turn out on to buttered toast. 

5- 

Tomato Omelet. — Melt 1 oz. butter in frying pan. 
Chop 2 tomatoes and put in pan. 
Beat 1 egg and add 1 teacup milk and a little pepper 

and salt. 
Pour over tomatoes. 
Cook slowly till set. 

Omelets must be eaten as soon as cooked. 

Puddings. 
1. 

Date Pudding. — 2 teacups flour. 
3 ozs. suet (or nut suet). 



82 The Pudding Lady. 

J teaspoon baking powder, 
i pinch salt. 

(Foundation mixture for all suet pudding). 
\ lb. dates. 

Chop suet and add to flour. 
Add baking powder and salt. 
Stone and chop dates. 
Add to mixture. 

Mix to stiff paste with water or milk. 
Grease basin and put mixture in. 
Cover with greased paper. 
Put in saucepan of boiling water. 
Water must come only half-way up basin. 
Steam slowly for i^ hours. 
(This pudding may be varied by adding chopped 

raisins — or currants or ginger — to foundation 

mixture). 

2. 

Macaroni Pudding. — £ lb. macaroni. 

Put into boiling water and boil half an hour. 

Then put in pie dish. 

Put J oz. grated suet over that. 

Then add i quart skimmed milk and a little sugar. 

Bake in slow oven for 20 minutes. 

Miscellaneous. 
1. 
Rice Milk (good for diarrhoea — not for babies). 
1 oz. rice. 
1 pint water. 
J teaspoon sugar. 



The Pudding Lady. 83 

Cook gently for 1 hour. 
Strain and drink liquid. 

2. 
Rice Water (good for diarrhoea — for babies). 
1 oz. rice. 
1 quart of water. 
Cook gently 1 hour. 
Strain and drink liquid. 

3- 

Oatmeal Tea. — 2 ozs. oatmeal. 
Pour 1 pint boiling water on it. 
Let it stand till cold. 
Pour off liquid. 

4- 
Barley Water. — 2 teaspoons pearl barley. 
Wash in cold water. 
Put in jug. 

Pour on 1 pint boiling water. 
Cover and let stand for £ hour. 
Strain. 

5- 

Albumen Water. — Boil 1 pint of water. 

Let it get cold. 

Beat up 2 whites of eggs. 

Add water slowly — beating all the time. 

Tea made with boiling milk instead of water is most 
nourishing and more digestible. 

A beaten egg added to a cupful of soup is most 
nourishing for an invalid — especially in cases of con- 
sumption. 



ONE FAMILY, ONE CUPBOARD. 

The contents of one cupboard in the home of a poor, 
but tidy, family have been noted down as follows : — 

Lowest Compartment. — Coals, splintered wood, old 
newspapers, boots, potatoes, onions, a stray oarrot or 
so, one or two cabbage leaves. 

ist Shelf from the Bottom. — A frying pan (back to 
the wall), odd pickle or jam jars, and empty tins and 
bottles, a paper of tin-tacks, a penny bottle of ink (no 
cork), a penny tin of vaseline (no lid), a piece of soap, 
an old hair brush and comb, bits of string, a few bent 
hairpins, screw-driver and other tools, an odd book or 
two, a magazine, and " Comic Cuts." 

2nd Shelf from the Bottom. — A plate, with meat 
bones and a few cold potatoes and bacon rinds, a bottle 
of vinegar, a screw of pepper in a bit of paper, a 
gorgeous biscuit tin, with the King in soarlet uniform, 
a paper of tea inside, a blue glass sugar basin, with 
brown sugar, condensed milk in an opened tin, brown 
teapot, and white and gold cups and saucers (incom- 
plete), a few odd jugs, a yellow basin, lots of odd 
saucers, several spoons, forks, and knives in various 
stages of use, round tin trays, some loose jam in a pie 
dish, some pickled red cabbage, a reel of thread, with a 
needle stuck in it, a battered thimble, a box of baby's 
powder with puff in it, a bit of soap, a few safety-pins, 
a paper of flower seeds, and a little blue-bag. 

Top Shelf. — A bundle of old papers, some more tins, 
bottles, pickle jars and jam pots, an old black shawl 
rolled up, an old black sailor hat standing on its side, 
with hat-pins in it, old boots, a broken birdcage, a 
saucepan with a hole in it, etc., stuffed out of the way. 



A PUPIL'S BUDGET: IN HER OWN 
LANGUAGE. 

Being a Mother at the Welcome for Mothers & Babies 
I have been kindly asked by one of the Lady if I mind 
Showing - her how I lay out my money without getting 
into debt. First of all My Husband allows me 18s. his 
wages are £i is. 

Saturday Shopping. 

s. d. 

I lb. tea at is. 4d. lb o 4 

£ lb. cocoa at is. 4d. lb o 4 

2 \ lbs. Sugar at 2d. lb o 5 

1 qrtn. Flour o 4J 

Baking Powder ,. o oj 

1 tin Milk o 3 

1 Bar Sunlight Soap o 3 

2 lbs. Soda o of 

1 oz. Pepper o of 

1 oz. Mustard o of 

Salt o o\ 

2 2f 

Carried Forward 2 2f 

Matches o o^ 

Blacking o oj 

2 3i 



86 The Pudding Lady. 

Groceries 2 3I 

f lb. Butter at iod. lb o 7 J 

Coals 1 5 

C. Blocks o 3 

Wood Box o 2 

Gas 1 o 

Carried forward 5 9J 

Rent 5 o 

Children's Boots o 4 

Sunday. 

s. d. 

Meat 1 o 

Potatoes at 3 lbs. a id o 1 

Greens o 1 

Suet o 1 

1 3 



Flank of Beef at 3d. lb. or else a Small loin of Mut- 
ton a Good Suet Pudding With Gravy over it. 

Monday. 

d. 

1 Loaf 2f 

Husband Breakfast Money 2 



4l 



Meat left from Sunday fried up Potatoes Pudding 
warmed up with Sugar for Children. 



The Pudding Lady. 87 

Tuesday. 

d. 

2 lbs. Breast of Mutton at 3d. lb. 6 

2 loaves 5 J 

Potatoes, 4J lb ij 

Onions oj 

2 lbs. Carrot and Turnip 1 

Suet 1 

Breakfast Money 2 

I Make a good Stew with plenty of Suet Dumplings 
and that makes a good dinner for 2 days My Hus- 
band taking his dinner in a basin with him to work 
as it is my Washing day. he can hot it up at work. 

Wednesday. 

d. 

1 loaf 2f 

Breakfast Money for Husband ... 2 

Soap and Soda get in of a Saturday with the other 
things. 

Thursday. 

s. d. 

1 lb. of Pig's Fry o 5 

Potatoes at 3 lb. a id o 1 

2 loaves o 5J 

Husband Money o 2 

1 1 * 

Pig's Fry is very nice thickened with Flour, 



88 The Pudding Lady. 

Friday. 

d. 

pieces 3 

onions . o£ 

Potatoes, 3 lb 1 

1 Loaf 2§ 

71 

Husband B Money 2 

_9l 

Now Friday is a very hard-up day as My Husband 
gets Paid Friday Night so I send my little boy which is 
8 years old very early about 8 o'clock in the morning 
to one of the good Butchers for 3d. peices he get them 
very small but that is just what you want for a pud- 
ding as for making the pudding (Crust) the dinner I 
have on Tuesday I skimmed the fat off and I mixed that 
in with the flour with Baking Powder and that does as 
well as suet especially if your hard up of course you 
dont taste the onions in it as you put onions in the pud- 
ding with Pepper & Salt to Flavour it is very nice and it 
maks a good dinner. 

Saturday. 

d. 

Giblets 4 

Onions, Turnip & Carrot 1 

Potatoes 1 

2 Loaves 5 J 

"i 



The Pudding Lady. 89 

Saturday Supper. 

s. d. 

Fried Fish and Potatoes o 2 J 

Sunday Morning Breakfast ... o 2 



Getting the Things in for the Week. 

s. d. 

5 9i 

Rent 5 o 

Children boots o 4 

Sunday 1 3 

Monday o 4§ 

Tuesday 1 5 J 

Wednesday o 4! 

Thursday .*. 1 i\ 

Friday ' o Q.J 

Saturday 1 4 



17 10 



Now I have showed the Lady how I have laid out 
my money and I dont think no Mother can go more 
careful than what I do I look at every penny before I 
spend it there is my Husband and 3 children and my- 
self, one 8 years the other 5 and one feeding at the 
breast so that you see it dont give me much chance to 
get many clothes for them but in the Summer you 
dont want so much coals and then I put what I can 
spare down at the Children bank at the School like I 
do the boots for them you are allowed now at the 



go The Pudding Lady. 

Schools to put a penny or twopence on a Card untill 
you get the money for the boots well that comes in 
very handy and there is another thing" I have got a good 
Husband and he mends all our boots, and buys the 
leather out of his pocket money as He know I cannot 
afford it so you see a Mother dont have much for 
herself. The cocoa I have for myself as I cannot afford 
beer and another thing I do not want it as I have 
found out it bring unhappiness to a home. 

Saturday Grocerers. 

s. d. 

3 lb. Sugar o 6 

i lb. rice o 2 

J lb. tea o 4 

£ lb. cocoa o 4 

1 tin milk o 3 

1 qrtn. flour o 4^ 

Baking Powder o o J 

id. pkt. Edwards soup powder o 1 

\ bar soap o ij 

Blue o oj 

Matches o oj 

J lb. butter at 1 od o 5 

\ lb. dripping o 3 

Coals 1 5 

C. blocks o 3 

Gas 1 o 

Boots o 4 

Rent 5 o 

10 11J 



The Pudding Lady. 91 

Sunday. s. d. 

Hock of bacon at 40!. lb 1 4 

Harricot beans o 1 

Potatoes o ij 

Milk o 1 

~i 

Monday. 
Cold Bacon Left From Sunday and what left of 
Pudding. 

d. 

Loaf 2f 

Husband breakfast money 2 

_4i 

Tuesday. s. d. 

Pieces o 6 

Onions o oj 

Carrot and turnip o 1 

Potatoes o ij 

2 loaves o 5 J 

Breakfast money o 2 

1 4 i 

Wednesday. 

Left from Stew. d. 

1 loaf 2§ 

Husband money 2 

~4f 



92 The Pudding Lady. 

Thursday. 

s. d. 

Mutton chops, ij lbs. at 4d. lb. o 5 

2 loaves o 5 \ 

Potatoes o 1 

Husband money o 2 

1 1* 

Friday. 

4 faggots 3 

Potatoes , . 1 

Onions oj 

1 loaf 2f 

_7i 

Saturday. 

s. d. 

J lb. bacon o 3 J 

J lb. liver o 2\ 

Potatoes o 1 

Bread o 5 \ 

1 o£ 

For Supper. 

d. 

J lb. cheese 2 

Sunday Morning. 

d. 

Breakfast 2 



AN APPRECIATION BY 
LADY MEYER. 

Dear Miss Petty, 

I should like as a humble social worker to express 
my appreciation of the admirable work done by " The 
Pudding Lady," and to add a few reflections suggested 
by this volume. I confess that, in addition to my 
admiration of the worker and her methods, my chief 
feeling is one of deep humiliation that, after 40 years 
of compulsory education and several generations of 
social legislation, the conditions of life among a large 
proportion of the people should be as they are here 
depicted. For if we look things squarely in the face, 
what are the only factors necessary for the rearing of <a 
normally healthy race? Enough fresh air during 
waking and sleeping hours, enough sleep, and a very 
moderate quantity of the right food. 

Air — moderately pure, even if somewhat soiled by 
the smoke of towns — is to be had free gratis in almost 
the worst slums by opening the windows of the upper 
storeys. Sleep costs nothing. Enough wholesome 
food to sustain the growing child, and repair the waste 
of tissue going on in the adult, can be procured, as 
shown in the budgets of this and similar books, even 
on the very low wages of a large proportion of the 
poorest, if only the mother — the caterer — is a woman 



94 The Pudding Lady. 

of intelligence, energy, and resourcefulness. " Ay, 
there's the rub ! " Where are we to find these splen- 
did mothers? — women who, in addition to bearing and 
suckling their children, are to be good cooks and budget- 
makers (with a knowledge of foods not even possessed 
by our middle and higher-class women) — good needle- 
women and washerwomen, whose health should be so 
robust that they can fulfil all these duties under the most 
difficult domestic conditions? The more one visits the 
homes of the slum-dwellers in our large and small towns, 
the more the certainty grows upon one that the two 
chief factors which can bring improvement are better 
housing and better education. Not more book-learning, 
not more facts poured into the poor half-starved brain 
— but more adequate training, physical and manual, of 
the child and the adolescent. If a moderate rent, in- 
stead of one room with no cooking or washing con- 
venience, would procure three rooms with water laid 
on, gas or electricity by the penny-in-the-slot system, 
and proper sanitary arrangements, many of the daily 
difficulties would vanish. I know that many such tene- 
ments exist, but the rents are too high for the class 
dealt with in this volume, and bad houses are in the 
majority in such districts. Also many will say that 
even in model dwellings you find ignorant and incom- 
petent women. Well, there are incompetent people of 
both sexes in every class ; but who can refuse sincere 
admiration to the foresight and self-denial of women 
like Mrs. J. (Case Paper No. X.) and the " Pupil " 
whose budget is submitted in Chapter n. 

If some of the women are blamed by the Food In- 
spector for "lack of energy to plan, buy, and cook 



The Pudding Lady. 95 

the family dinner," should we not ask ourselves 
whether, given these physical, mental, and material 
disabilities, we should any of us do better? I confess 
that if to-morrow I were to wake in a St. Pancras 
slum and find myself confronted with the task of pro- 
viding a family of five or six with food and the neces- 
saries of life on an income of 15s. to 18s. a week, I 
should, in spite of many years of housekeeping, make 
11 a bad job " of it, although I have excellent health 
and some knowledge of food values and prices and 
cooking. 

It is easy to cavil at deficiencies in others, but what 
about our own faults? When I read in Case II. " was 
a general servant, but only mostly cooked joints and 
vegetables," and the various other cases where the 
women seem to have gained little knowledge during 
their years of domestic service, it strikes me that if 
in these no doubt modest households, where one 
11 general " servant was kept, the mistresses had 
known and made use of such nourishing articles of diet 
as those included in " The Pudding Lady's " recipes, 
their servants, having prepared such dishes week by 
week, would have carried their acquired knowledge as 
a precious dowry into their married life. 

We want education and reform in the households of 
the more fortunate, as well as among the poorer people. 
If, as a nation, we are in earnest in our wish to rear 
a healthy race, women — and men — of all classes must 
see to it that our babies are born into homes where 
they can breathe pure air and sleep quietly — and that 
the future mothers and fathers are taught the care of 
their own and their children's bodies. 



96 The Pudding Lady. 

" The Pudding Lady " has done pioneer work. It is 
my sincere hope that this little book will arouse real 
interest and will give fresh impetus to the movement 
for bettering the conditions of the inhabitants of 
Somers Town and similar districts. 

Yours very sincerely, 
Shortgrove, Essex, Adele Meyer. 

September, 1910. 



NATIONAL FOOD REFORM 
ASSOCIATION. 

MEMBERSHIP. 

The Association is working for food, cookery and 
health reform in co-operation with the heads of the 
medical, educational and nursing professions and social 
reformers generally. It has neither dogmatic policy 
nor dietetic test. 

All in general sympathy with its aims are cordially 
invited to help by enrolling themselves as members. 

A subscription of ios. and upwards entitles the giver 
to receive a monthly copy of " National Health," the 
organ of the Association, in the publication of which 
it joins with the National League for Physical Educa- 
tion and Improvement, the Association of Infant Con- 
sultations and Schools for Mothers, ' the National 
Association for the Prevention of Infant Mortality and 
for the Welfare of Infancy, and the Mansion House 
Council on Health and Housing. The annual subscrip- 
tion to National Health is 4s., post free. A specimen 
copy will be sent on receipt of four penny stamps. 

Additional particulars of the work, including arrange- 
ments for demonstration-lectures, drawing-room and 
other meetings, may be obtained from the Honorary 
Secretary, 178, St. Stephen's House, Westminster. 



Food and Efficiency. 

(Reprinted from The Common Cause, September 3rd, 1915.) 

" No, we are not a vegetarian society," Mr. Charles Hecht, 
of the National Food Reform Association, St. Stephen's House, 
Westminster, told an inquirer the other day. " Our object is to 
widen, not to narrow, the choice of foodstuffs of the community. We 
adhere to no special dietetic creed, just as we have no personal 
axe to grind. Our aim throughout has been entirely philanthropic." 

" How did we come into existence ? Indirectly, through the 
Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Physical Deteri- 
oration, which, some ten years ago, you will remember, aroused 
grave concern as to the future of the race. A national awakening 
to the urgency of diet and health reform generally followed. 

" That the use of improper or insufficient food is one of the 
chief causes of physical degeneration, and, next to bad housing, 
the most potent source of drunkenness, was emphasised by the 
above Committee, and has been recognised by our Association 
from the first. We are supported by all the highest medical 
authorities : Sir Lauder Brunton, Dr. Robert Hutchison, Pro- 
fessor Sims Woodhead, to mention only one or two, and well- 
known social reformers, such as Mr. Seebohm Rowntree and 
Mrs. Sidney Webb. We seek, by every possible means, lectures, 
meetings, cookery demonstrations, classes, and the publication 
of cheap and useful recipes, to teach the nutritive value of foods 
and their best methods of preparation. Two of our booklets, 
Hints towards Diet Reform, and Economical Dishes for Workers, 
are in such request amongst heads of households, social workers, 
and wage-earners, especially since the outbreak of war, that 
three editions of each, making some 50,000 in all, have already 
been called for. 

"The energies of the Association early became focussed on 
the reform of diet in schools, colleges, hospitals, and institu- 
tions generally. In 1910 a large and influential conference of 
hospital matrons was held at Caxton Hall, Westminster, to 
discuss the feeding of nurses, and many reforms in this direc- 
tion have since been effected. Monotony is gradually being 
conquered by increased forethought, and the introduction of alter- 
native dishes. The quality and service of the food provided is 



receiving more attention, and the hurry and rush which formerly 
characterised nurses' meals are no longer permitted. These reforms 
have been facilitated by the issue of the Report of the proceedings. 

" Encouraged by this success, we next called public attention 
to the diet of the school in relation to the growing child. A 
big educational conference, in 1912, on Diet and Hygiene in 
Public Secondary and Private Schools, Preparatory and Ad- 
vanced, Boarding and Day, was the result. It was held at the 
Guildhall, London, the Lord Mayor presiding, and over 250 
schools were represented. Interesting features were the exhi- 
bition of diet sheets from some of the leading public schools, 
such as Haileybury, and Christ's Hospital, and ' Tuck Shop ' 
and ' Grub Box ' regulations. 

" We found that the chief defects alleged against school diet 
were monotony, stodginess, bad cooking and service, lack of 
vegetables and fruit (hence the introduction of the tuck-shop 
and grub-box, with their accompanying digestive evils, too often 
sowing the seeds of adult ill-health), insufficient time for meals, 
and bad kitchen arrangements. The absence of any recognised 
standard of school dietary was felt to be at the bottom of most 
of these shortcomings, coupled with incompetent housekeeping. 
The latter defect we have taken steps to remedy, at the same time 
opening up to women a new, attractive, and remunerative career." 

" What has been the effect of the conference upon the 
schools ? " Mr. Hecht handed across a bulky volume, Our 
Children' s Health at Home and at School, edited by himself. " This 
is not a book that lies idle upon the shelf," he said. " Every 
up-to-date headmaster and headmistress in the country keeps a 
copy at hand for reference, whilst a number have become members 
of the Association. Parents study it before selecting schools, and 
consult the representative school committee. So do heads of 
schools and houses wishful to effect reforms and economies." 

" Is not the feeding of the children of the wage-earners just 
as important as those of the middle and upper classes ? " 

" Every bit. Indeed, we held a small conference on this 
subject in the year of our birth — 1908. But I am coming to 
that. It was recognised that the primary schools must be dealt 
with separately. So we called a second conference the next 
year, 1913, again at the Guildhall, which was attended by leading 
school medical officers and teachers of cookery and hygiene, repre- 



sentative of educational authorities, the National Union of 
Teachers, philanthropic institutions, and social workers. This 
conference ranged over an enormous area, and touched upon 
many subjects, including the life and diet of primary scholars 
and their parents, the teaching of cookery, open-air schools, 
Poor-Law institutions, diet of town and country, experiments in 
feeding and cookery teaching at home and abroad. This second 
book," and Mr. Hecht indicated a volume even larger than its 
predecessor, entitled Rearing an Imperial Race, " is the outcome 
of these efforts. This also is having a wide sale and influence, 
not only here but in America. It is interesting to note that 
her Majesty the Queen, on hearing of the conference, intimated 
her desire to receive this book. She has also accepted many 
other of our publications, and has expressed great interest in 
the work done by Miss Petty, with the approval of the Central 
Committee on Women's Employment and the Queen's Work for 
Women Fund." 

" What are we doing during the war ? Well, naturally, with 
the constant rise in food prices, our primary object is to help 
housewives to secure economy with undiminished, nay, far 
greater, efficiency. Our lecturers and demonstrators,* led by 
' The Pudding Lady,' as Miss Petty is called, show how cheap 
and nourishing meals may be provided at i£d. per head. We 
are also issuing an entirely new series of food booklets, Facts 
for Patriots, and these, like the little books of recipes, are selling 
in their thousands. 

"We shall work still harder after the war is over. The 
pinch will be felt by all classes for some considerable time, and 
we shall have to increase, not diminish, our efforts in the future. 
So shall we justify our existence, and, incidentally, fulfil the 
unconscious prophecy uttered by Sir Lauder Brunton, when the 
Association was first started : ' I certainly think,' he wrote, ' it 
is a movement in the right direction, and if harder times come 
upon this country, then food reform will tend to increase the 
power of the country to bear them.' " 

D. M. Ford. 



* The Association contemplates granting diplomas in practical 
economic cookery to ladies specially trained and qualified. Further 
particulars on application. 



A Book that will save Money and Lives 
during the War and After, 

REARING AN 
IMPERIAL RACE 

Containing a full Report of the 
Second Guildhall School Conference 
on Diet, Cookery and Hygiene, 
June 30th and July 1st, 19 13, 
with Dietaries ; Special Reports 
from H.M. Ambassadors Abroad; 
Articles on Children's Food Re- 
quirements, Clothing, etc. 

Demy 8vo, 556 pp., cloth, gilt, 7s. 6d. net. Fully 
Illustrated. 

Edited by CHARLES E. HECHT, M.A. 

London : Published for the 

National Food Reform Association 

by The St. Catherine Press, Stamford St., London, S.E. 

19*3 



"Rearing an Imperial Race. 

Rearing an Imperial Race may be deemed singularly 
happy in the moment of its appearance. Lord Rosebery 
once described a satisfied reformer as " a dangerous being," 
and, like all well-wishers of our land, he must rejoice at 
" the spirit of divine discontent " which is abroad to-day. 
Nowhere is this dissatisfaction more in evidence than in 
the realm of child-life. To all who are striving after 
better conditions, whether as home-makers, social workers, 
and other students of political and economic conditions, 
nurses, teachers in our schools, representatives of the 
community, members of public or private branches of the 
great medical profession, or those in authority over institu- 
tions, either as members of governing bodies or as adminis- 
trators, this volume will prove absolutely indispensable. 
We stand, moreover, on the threshold of a year when there 
is a prospect that the aspiration of to-day may become the 
law of to-morrow. It is for public opinion to leave His 
Majesty's Ministers in no doubt as to what, in its judgment, 
the necessities of the situation demand. An essential pre- 
liminary to the putting forward of practical suggestions is 
that of making sure of the facts and consulting the opinion 
of experts. It is this that the present volume enables 
the reader to do. The letterpress and form of the book 
will be found as restful and pleasing to the eye as the con- 
tents are stimulating and helpful. Like Our Children's 
Health at Home and at School, to which it forms a com- 
panion volume, the book has been edited by Charles E. 
Hecht, Honorary Secretary of the Guildhall School Con- 
ferences and of the National Food Reform Association. 

Summary of Contents. 

Part I. SECOND GUILDHALL SCHOOL CONFERENCE ON 
DIET, COOKERY AND HYGIENE. 

How Bradford works the Provision of Meals Act : Marian E. Cuff . 



Social and Educational Aspects of School Meals : Millicent Mackenzie, 
M.A. Selection of Children : Victor J. Blake, M.B., B.S. Criticisms 
and Suggestions : L. Haden Guest, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P. Methods in 
Glasgow : Ernest T. Roberts, M.D., D.P.H. Educational Importance 
of School Meals : W. A. Nicholls. School and Home : M. Cecile 
Matheson. In an English Mining District : Amy Walker Black. 
The English Country-side : George Finch, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., D.P.H. 
Conditions in the Highlands : Gordon A. Lang, M.B., CM. Instruction 
in Hygiene : W. Spencer Badger, M.B., D.P.H. Teaching of Cookery : 
Catherine R. Gordon. Town and Country Methods : Gertrude Irons. 
Philanthropic Institutions : Edith Butler. Open Air Schools : Edward 
J. Morton, M.B., Ch.B., F.R.C.S. Special Schools : Christine M. 
Murrell, M.D., B.S. Residential Open Air Schools : D. M. Taylor, 
M.A., M.D., D.P.H. Reformatory and Industrial Schools : I. Ellis. 
Poor Law Institutions : James R. Motion and John M. Henderson, 
M.B., Ch.B. 

Part II. DIETARIES AND OTHER EXHIBITS. 

Contributions from Education Authorities, Institutions, etc. How 
to save the Teeth. 

Part III. FACING THE FACTS. 

Life at the Heart of the Empire. Self Respect in Rags. How the 
Family of the Agricultural Labourer lives : Ronald T. Herdman, M.D., 
D.P.H. Country School Children : E. Bertram Smith, M.B., B.S., 
D.P.H. Malnutrition, its Causes and Consequences. Alcoholism 
and Childhood : A. Delcourt, M.D. Food Requirements of Children : 
Chalmers Watson, M.D., F.R.C.P.E. Bradford Feeding Experiment : 
Ralph H. Crowley, M.D., M.R.C.P., and Marian E. Cuff. London's 
Under-nourished Children. How Edinburgh feeds and clothes her 
Children : J. W. Peck. An Essex Village Health Centre. A Tale of 
Two Cities : George Rainey. Clothes and the Child : Alice M. Burn, 
M.B., D.P.H. More about Meals for Under-nourished Children. 
Breakfasts or Dinners ? The School Teacher as Health Missioner : 
S. B. Walsh, B.A., M.D., D.P.H. A Side Attack on Intemperance. 
Employers who lead the Way. Institutional Housekeeping, a New- 
Career for Women. 

Part IV. LIGHT FROM ABROAD. 

The United States : the Case for School Meals. France : Caisse 
des Ecoles. Switzerland : Provision for Meals and Clothing in the 
Cantons of Basle and Geneva and Town of Zurich. Germany : Teach- 
ing of Domestic Subjects ; Young Mistresses of the Art of Cookery. 

xxiii 



Illustrations. 

Children Waiting to be Fed : Glasgow. An Up-to-date 
Dining Room : Glasgow. Penny Dinner Children : New- 
port, Essex. Mothers' Meeting : Newport, Essex. Infants 
in Composite Hammocks, Birmingham. Shower Baths : 
Birmingham. Responsibility : Marketing : Packing Port- 
able Dinners : Shoreditch L.C.C. Technical Institute. 
Lesson in Boiling Roots and Tubers : Fulham. Domestic 
School Cottages : York Cocoa Works. An Open-Air Class, 
York Cocoa Works. General View of Class Rooms and 
Resting Shed : Uffculme Open- Air School, Birmingham. 



"Rearing an Imperial Race!' 

SOME PRESS OPINIONS. 

Reprinted from " National Health," April, 1914. 
Rearing an Imperial Race, which was reviewed in the February 
issue of National Health, seems destined to have an exceptionally wide 
range of influence. Orders have already been received from India, 
the Transvaal, Cape Colony, Germany, Switzerland, and the United 
States. In this country where, to use the language of the drama, the 
action takes place, the various sections of the Press have thus far vied 
with one another in the cordiality of their welcome. Thus the 
Athenceum declares that " its value as a work of reference is un- 
questionable," and adds, " we wish the Association all success in its 
patriotic endeavour." The Contemporary Review observes that " those 
who are interested in child life, whether legislators or administrators, 
teachers or social workers, will find much of real value in the book. 
We learn not only what ought to be done, but what is being done in 
regard to the feeding of school children and the teaching of cookery 
and hygiene," and concludes : " While the Association makes less 
noise in the world than many rival organisations, it is doing work of a 
national character in calling attention to evils, the remedy for which 
lies very largely in our own hands." Passing into medical circles, we 
find the Lancet predicting " it will be found of value in view of the 
forthcoming Education Bill," while the Medical Officer notes " the 
volume ranges over a wide field and touches upon a host of questions 



concerning education and civic training." " The Association may 
rest assured,"' it adds, " that the work which they have carried out 
in calling together the conference and in publishing the results will 
bear an abundant harvest." The representatives of the educational 
world are not less complimentary. Education, the organ of the County 
Councils Association, the Association of Teachers of Domestic Sub- 
jects, and other influential bodies, in the first of two notices, says : 
" There could scarcely be a more attractive or more opportune publi- 
cation. A very much ' alive,' very carefully compiled, and very 
handsomely got-up work on a pressing social problem — not a mere 
dull report, but a book calculated to give the teacher and adminis- 
trator a broad view of the field they are themselves working, but what 
is even more valuable in these days of stress and strain, to give them 
a useful epitome of successful work being done in the same direction 
by others both here and abroad." The verdict of the Child is : 
" Admirably edited, well printed and illustrated, and full of informa- 
tion and suggestions. It is a work which parents, doctors, social 
workers, and indeed all thoughtful men and women, concerned for the 
development of capable citizens, should possess and peruse with 
thoroughness." 

Turning to the religious Press, the Commonwealth contains a lengthy 
and enthusiastic critique from the pen of the Headmaster of Eton, 
who characterises it as " a truly astonishing book." He predicts it 
" ought to be of untold value to any worker among the teeming mil- 
lions of our elementary school children, to all county and borough 
councillors, and, in short, to all who are interested in the breed of 
Englishmen." "There is noticeable throughout," he adds, "an 
immense zeal and enthusiasm, but a total absence of cant or faddish- 
ness." Equally favourable is the verdict of the Inquirer. "This is 
only one of many suggestions," it observes, " by experts with practical 
experience, with which the book abounds. It is a splendid collection 
of material which will be of the greatest service to all workers for the 
physical welfare of children and all thoughtful citizens, who wish to 
know what is being done by social workers in this field." 

The provincial Press notices up to now include a suggestive essay 
in the Manchester Guardian, by Dr. Alfred Mumford, in which he 
justifies the title of the book, and insists that " Eutrophics, or the 
science of proper nourishment and training, is the science of to-day." 
The Scotsman emphasises the high value of the book " to all who are in 
any way concerned with the problem of the healthy upbringing of the 
rising generation and its education in the most essential of all know- 
ledge — how to build up a sound body." The Sheffield Daily Tele- 
graph holds that it is "a book which no social worker, educationist, 
or elementary school teacher should be without " ; while the Glasgow 



Herald refers to it as " this excellent cyclopaedia of matters relating 
to the physical welfare of the young." 

Among women's weeklies, the Queen says of the book, it is " as 
saddening as necessary, as humiliating as hopeful, as disquietening as 
patriotic, and as ironical as philanthropic, when one thinks on the 
manner in which an Imperial race is reared." The Vote has published 
a series of three critical articles based upon it under the title of " The 
Coming Race." 

Dr. C. F. Langworthy, the distinguished head of the Nutrition 
Investigations in connection with the Office of Experiment Stations 
of the Department of Agriculture at Washington, U.S.A., writes to its 
editor : " I have recently been examining a copy of the volume Rearing 
an Imperial Race, and am much interested in this as in the earlier 
volume." Here the various government departments concerned have 
lost no time in procuring copies. So exceptionally well qualified a 
judge as the Countess of Aberdeen has indicated her opinion of the 
book and of its predecessor, Our Children's Health at Home and at 
School, by asking that particulars of both volumes might be sent to 
all members of the Public Health Section of the National Union of 
Women Workers, of which Her Excellency is chairman." 

SOME ADDITIONAL APPRECIATIONS. 

Buckingham Palace, 

June 6th, 191 3. 

Dear Sir, — I have laid your letter before the Queen, and am com- 
manded to ask you to be good enough to convey to the Schools 
Committee an expression of Her Majesty's best thanks for the copy 
of the invitation circular and programme of the Second Guildhall 
School Conference on Diet, Cookery and Hygiene in public elementary 
schools and public and philanthropic institutions for children and 
adolescents. 
The Queen will be much interested to peruse the report. 
I am, 

Yours faithfully, 
(Signed) E. W. Wallington, 

Private Secretary. 
Charles E. Hecht, Esq., M.A., 
Hon. Secretary, 
The National Food Reform Association. 
[In acknowledging, on December 5th of the same year, a copy of 
Rearing an Imperial Race, which contains a full report with much 
additional matter, Her Majesty expressed her interest at hearing that 
the book was having such a ready sale.] 



" I knew from what I have heard of the book that I should find 
much valuable information in it, but in its fulness of such matter 
it far exceeds my expectation. I have only read a small portion, but 
already it has given me just the kind of evidence that is most useful 
to support pleas for social reform." — Mr. T. C. Horsfall, President 
Manchester and Salford Sanitary Association. 

" It is to me a most fascinating volume." — Mrs. Francis, Organising 
Secretary, League of Honour. 

" I feel I cannot content myself with the official copy of the con- 
ference report [Rearing an Imperial Race). The volume is most 
interesting and admirably got up." — Dr. Ralph Crowley, Medical 
Department, Board of Education. 

11 It seems to be a perfect mine of valuable information to which 
I shall often want to refer." — Dr. Robert Hutchison, author of the 
standard work on Diet. 

" I have formed a very high estimate of Rearing an Imperial Race, 
and trust it may be widely read." — Dr. J. Sim Wallace. 

" I may say that I have a copy of Rearing an Imperial Race, and 
think it is most interesting and instructive." — The Medical Officer 
to a Babies' Welcome in one of our great cities. 

11 Thank you for telling me ot the book. We shall be glad to have 
some notices of it for the superintendents, and I am asking the com- 
mittee whether we may order a copy as an addition to the smali library 
at the Central Office." — Miss Amy Hughes, General Superintendent, 
Queen Victoria's Jubilee Institute for Nurses. 

" We are finding your book of the greatest value." — The Hon. 
Secretary of a Day Nursery. 

" It is a lovely book." — A School Nurse. 

" I have been reading Rearing an Imperial Race with much profit 
and interest. The book should be absolutely invaluable to members 
of Care Committees." — A London Social Worker. 

" I received the book last evening. A cursory glance at its pages 
shows me that I am bound to find the contents not only interesting 
but instructive. I most heartily wish you and your book every 
success." — Miss Willena Hitching, Organiser and Inspector Derby- 
shire Education Committee, and author of Home Management. 

" I have just been reading the report of the last Conference with 
the greatest interest. I should like to become a member of the Asso- 
ciation." Later, " I have had the greatest pleasure in reading and 
re-reading Rearing an Imperial Race. I expect it will be an immense 
help to me next winter." — A Teacher of Cookery under the Edin- 
burgh School Board. 

" I fear I have kept your book for a very long time, but it is far too 
interesting to dispose of quickly. It is most suggestive and helpful, 

xxvii 



and I am so glad to get into touch with all that is being done in this 
progressive movement." — A Secondary School Head Mistress. 

" We are deeply interested in your book, and congratulate you on 
its success." — Mrs. Morgan Thomas Riley, nee Laura Cauble, 
Special Investigator, Bureau of Food Supply, New York Association 
for Improving the Condition of the Poor. 

" I have read with a great deal of interest the report of the pro- 
ceedings of the Second Guildhall School Conference on Diet, Cookery 
and Hygiene. I was asked by the American Journal of Public Health, 
which is the foremost journal in this country, to review your book, 
which I did for the October number." — Mr. Edward E. Brown, 
Superintendent, Department of Social Welfare, New York Association 
for Improving the Condition of the Poor. 

" Fully as informing as a set of text-books on dietetics, home and 
school life, and hygiene of children, will be found the collection of 
papers on these related subjects presented in Rearing an Imperial 
Race, which gives the deliberations of a notable English conference 
held at London in June, 191 3. The volume recalls what Lord Beacons- 
field once said : ' The health of the people is really the foundation 
upon which all their happiness and all their powers as a nation depends ; 
but if the population of that country is stationary or yearly diminishes 
in stature and strength that country is doomed.' " — The American 
Journal of Public Health. 

" It contains a fund of valuable information for all those engaged 
in all lines of child welfare work in school or institution, civic or philan- 
thropic. The relation of health to education was discussed in all its 
aspects. Indeed, it is worthy of note that the prevalent observation 
of speakers was that the physical side of education — health education — 
is for the first time in our history to receive its due share of attention. 
For the first time in history careful scientific attention is to be given 
to the foundation on which the entire edifice of national education 
must be reared. This must include consideration of the dietary and 
home conditions of both town and country school children, not only 
the teaching of personal, home, and civic hygiene, but also a con- 
sideration of food and food values, buying, preparation, cooking 
utensils, and other housecraft, and their relation to local economic 
conditions." — The Canadian Public Health Journal. 



NATIONAL FOOD REFORM 
ASSOCIATION 

Telephone No. : 178 ST. STEPHEN'S HOUSE, 

Gerrard 9231. WESTMINSTER BRIDGE, S.W. 

(Entrance in Cannon Row.) 
FOUNDED 1908. 

PUBLICATIONS. {Postage extra.) 

Booklet No. 2. — " Hints Towards Diet Reform/' 

with Notes and 24 Simple Recipes. 40th thousand. 
2d. 50 copies, 6s. 
Booklet No. 4. — " Economical Dishes for Workers," 

with Useful Hints. 64th thousand. Id. 50 copies, 
3s. (post free, 3s. 5d.) ; 100 copies, 5s. 6d. ; 250 copies, 
12s. 6d. ; 500 copies, £l 3s. 6d. ; 1,000 copies, £2 5s. ; 
5,000 copies, £\0 10s. 

Specially adapted for distribution on a large scale 
alike in town and country. 50,000 copies were called 
for in the first eighteen months of the war. 
"Facts for Patriots." (Three Series.) 3d. each. 
50 copies, 9s. ; 100 copies, 15s. ; 250 copies, £l 16s. ; 
500 copies, £3 7s. 6d. ; 1,000 copies, £6 10s. 

No. 12. First Series — 13th thousand. Contents : The 

Cost of Ignorance ; Some Neglected Foods, viz., Cheese, 

The Poor Man's Beef, Nuts, Oats, Maize, Macaroni, etc. ; 

The Cup that Cheers. 

No. 13. Second Series— 10th thousand. Contents : 

The Use and Abuse of Vegetables ; The Place of Fruit 

in the Diet ; Sweets to the Sweet ; The Staff of Life ; 

Why a Pure Food Act is needed. 

No. 14. Third Series— Contents : The Economical 

Use of Meat ; Fish ; Salads — a luxury or a necessity ? ; 

Milk as a Food ; Our Milk Supply — a national peril. 

These are intended for social workers and cookery 
teachers, heads of households and institutions. 

The President of the Eoard of Agriculture and Fisheries (Lord Selborne) 
writes : " I have read with interest the last series (third) of your booklets, ' Facts 
for Patriots.' I wish your Association every success in its campaign of instruc- 
tion, which I trust may result in increased household economy." 

Booklet No. 3.— " Diet as a Cure for Inebriety." 3d. 

xxix 



Leaflet No. 1 — "Diet Reform a National Necessity." 

Id. 25 copies, 6d. ; 100 copies, Is. 6d. ; 1,000 
copies, 7s. 

Leaflet No. 2.—*' Aids to Fitness." 13th thousand. Id. 
25 copies, 6d. ; 100 copies, Is. 6d. ; 1000 copies, 7s. 
This was issued by the Schools Committee after the First 
Guildhall School Conference. It can also be had in a form 
suitable for display on school notice boards or in dor- 
mitories, nurseries, etc. 

Leaflet No. 3. — " Fireless Cookery." By Miss 
Florence Petty (" The Pudding Lady "). Id. 
25 copies, 6d. ; 100 copies, Is. 6d. ; 1,000 copies, 7s. 

"The Feeding of Young Children." 4th thousand. 
3d. By W. A. Potts, M.D. 

" Diet in Pregnancy." 3d. By W. A. Potts, M.D. 

" Our Children's Health at Home and at School." 

5s. net (post free, 5s. 6d.). 

A book for parents, heads of schools, houses, and 
colleges, and educationists generally. 

" Rearing an Imperial Race." 7s. 6d. (post free, 8s.). 

A handbook for social workers, cookery teachers, school 
medical officers, and other educationists, and all con- 
nected with institutions (see pp. xxi-xxviii). 

" Papers read at the Guildhall School Conferences 
on Diet, Cookery and Hygiene." Is. and 2s. 6d. 

"The Feeding of Nurses." Report of the Caxton 
Hall Conference of Hospital Matrons, with preface 
by Dr. Robert Hutchison, and appendices. 6d. 

"A New Career for Women." Id. 

"First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Annual 
Reports." 3d. each. 

"Sixth Annual Report." 6d. 

N.B. — Cookery books and standard works on diet, health, and mothercra/t 
are also stocked. Lists on application. 




*£.&£> 



W. H. SMITH & SON 
STAMFORD STREET 
LONDON • S.E. 



■f 



I 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

014 485 738 • 



